Revenge of the Kaiser
by Jillie062
Summary: Finally finished. Sequel to Shattered. Kekari. The Kaiser is back and wants the one thing he couldn't get: Kari. He kidnaps her and has every intention of making her his. What lengths will Ken go to to get her back?
1. Hello Again

Author's Note: Hey there, everyone. I apologize for the delay in the posting. I WAS going to type out all the major events that happened between the end of Shattered and the beginning of Revenge of the Kaiser. It would take the reader through the differences and similarities of the 02 ending. I even got through four pages- I really tried to force myself through them, but if I had, I'd probably scrap the fic out of sheer frustration before starting the actual story. To keep things from being confusing, I am typing out a short summary of events. Not everything follows the 02 storyline, which would have been impossible unless I wanted to be a cheap ass author and completely ignore all events in the first fic, but it does follow for the most part. Shattered ended at the end of July, this picks up the next May.

Okay, here we are: First off, Ken was released from the hospital the same day that Kari woke up. Adjusting to life back at home wouldn't have been too difficult, except for the fact that Mr. Ichijouji had been delaying to accept a job offer that required them to move to Odaiba. They moved on the 3rd of August. Ken returned to the Digiworld to try and fix some of the damage he had caused. He began by freeing the digidestineds' digimon, who Wormmon had been watching over in Ken's absence. He then set free all of the other digimon, put the Control Spires out of commission, and shut down the base.

A resentful Tyranomon wanted to get revenge on Ken for forcing him to become Ken's slave. He attacked Ken and Wormmon; that was the first time Stingmon made his appearance.

The newer digidestined team, with the exception of Kari, started going back to the Digital World by the middle of August. They did not know that Ken was there too, until Stingmon saved Cody from the Control Spire digimon, Thundermon.

Then Arukenimon made her appearance. Ken insisted on fighting on his own, not wanting to endanger anyone else for his mistakes. Davis knocked some sense into him, literally, and Paildramon came into existence. Ken was still hesitant to join the team, especially since Kari would be coming back.

Tracking a warp in the Digital World, the digidestined found the crest of Kindness in the wall at the base of a canyon. Ken was tracking the signal as well, and met up with them. The crest was black and distorted; it had taken the form of the anti-crest of Cruelty. Tk saw it as a sign that Ken was still evil and just playing them all for fools, but Izzy e-mailed the team and told them that all Ken need do was to take the crest and purify it. Seeing a way to prove that he wasn't evil any longer, Ken removed the crest from the canyon base without hesitation. It was purified, proving that Ken was in fact the bearer of Kindness.

When Kari returned to the Digiworld, the gang decided to look for Gatomon's lost tail ring. Ken was in the area as well, and both they and Yolie were torn out of the Digital World and brought to the Dark Ocean. Ken almost had a break down, and Kari was convinced she couldn't get away from the darkness, but Yolie thought otherwise. Silphymon was able to save them all, but Ken left right after.

School started and Ken started attending Odaiba High School. He didn't have any classes with Kari, but he did with both Davis and Yolie. Yolie was trying to play matchmaker after the escapade fighting Blossomon, and Davis was determined to make friends. When digimon started showing up in the real world, Ken had no choice but to become an official member of the team.

Christmas crept up on the team in no time at all. Ken and Matt went to Mexico to take out the Control Spires and return the digimon to the Digital World. Matt took time out of their busy schedule to speak to Ken about Kari. He told Ken that he'd better grow a backbone quickly otherwise Kari was going to give up on him. Apparently, Tk still had a problem with Ken.

The final battle between the digidestined and Malomyotismon led to Paildramon's digivolution to Imperialdramon. It was a long and difficult battle, but Malomyotismon was finally defeated. Ken was preparing to take Minomon home for some well deserved rest, but Kari followed after him so that she could speak with him alone.

He wasn't sure how it happened, but after insisting that he didn't deserve her forgiveness for the umpteenth hundredth time, Ken found himself wrapping his arms around her and _returning_ a kiss.

They announced becoming a couple the following day. Tai was okay with it, if Kari was happy than he was happy. Davis, after threatening to break every bone in Ken's body if he screwed up the relationship, gave his full approval. He couldn't be certain, but Ken thought he heard Davis mutter something along the lines of: "so long as it isn't Ts." Tk didn't say anything about it, nor did he need to. His cold stare was enough to tell Ken that he disapproved, but he didn't want to upset Kari by verbally assaulting him. Everyone else was happy; Yolie was especially ecstatic for the two, crediting herself for aiding in their getting together.

Our fic begins in May; it has been roughly four and a half months since the defeat of Malomyotismon. I know I left out a lot of details, including Oikawa's entire part. I don't know the details of his role, other than that he was at Sam's funeral and that he was possessed by Malomyotismon. I guess his part is just as it was in the show.

Ages:

Kari, Tk, Davis, Ken, Yolie: 17

Cody: 14

Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi: 20

Izzy: 21

Joe: 23

If there's something you want to see specifically, let me know ASAP so I can work it into the fic. And I hope no one asks me to change the coupling, it's a Kenkari for sure!

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter One: Hello Again**

"Ken, honey, you're going to be late if you don't leave right now!" Mrs. Ichijouji shouted from the kitchen, her voice carrying into Ken's bedroom.

"I'm leaving now," he replied, hopping on one foot in an attempt to put on one of his cleats, all while balancing his duffle bag on his back, and shutting his bedroom door. The bag tipped sideways, knocking the teen to the ground. "Dammit," he whispered, righting himself.

Mrs. Ichijouji gave her son a disapproving look. "Ken, darn it would have been just as affective. Now get going!"

"Right, I'm out of here. Tell Aunt Jane that I hope she feels better. Oh, I'm going to be out with Kari and everyone after the game, so don't wait up."

Mrs. Ichijouji nodded and ushered her son out the door. She felt terrible that she was missing one of Ken's last soccer matches of the season, but her sister had gotten sick and needed some good old-fashioned nurturing from her.

Ken darted out the door and ran down the stairs, braving two or three steps per bound. If he walked quickly he'd make it there just in time. Running down the street, Ken hurried to the school grounds.

"Ken, over here!" Ken ran towards the familiar voice, waving his hand above his head as he approached. "It's about time," Davis said, "I was starting to worry."

Ken and Davis walked across the field to where the Odaiba Varsity soccer team had begun warming up. "Is Kari here yet?" Ken asked, taking a seat on the grass.

"I haven't seen her, but she's coming with Tai and Tai always takes forever. I'm sure she'll be here before the game starts, though. Everyone else is here."

Ken looked over towards the bleachers. A smile spread across his lips as he watched his girlfriend and her older brother climbing up to sit with the others. Kari looked up and saw Ken and waved at him; his smile widened and he waved back.

"Focus, Ichijouji. I need your eyes and mind set on the field, not on the pretty girl sitting in the stands."

"Right, Coach, I got it."

"We're against a tough team today. The Raiders are one of the best in the league. I need you to give it your all."

"Don't worry Coach," Davis piped up. "Even if Ken isn't up to it, you've got me. What else could you possibly want?"

The coach patted the top of Davis' head. "I admire your confidence," he said.

Davis looked over at Ken again when the coach had walked away. "So Ken, are you ready for me to show you how a pro does it?"

"A pro? Is that what you call yourself? Really Davis, you should save yourself the embarrassment and let me handle things."

Davis punched Ken in the arm as he stood up and stretched his arms above his head. "Right, just remember whose team this is."

Davis and Ken were both captains, so Davis' statement had no relevance. Ken laughed at his friend; a school year with Davis had made Ken lighten up a lot. Anyone who spent that much time with Davis and didn't lighten up probably needed professional help.

The game went by rather quickly (mostly because I don't want to embarrass myself by trying to write details of a soccer game when I know less than nothing about the sport ;). Odaiba had been tied against the Raiders for a while, until Davis assisted Ken for the final goal of the game, making the final score seven to six.

After the game, Ken and Davis showered and changed and met up with the others. Tai immediately started praising, and criticizing, every single play of the game. "And that fake where you went left but kicked right and Ken was right there, it was amazing!"

"Tai, as marvelous as the game was, seeing it once was enough; hearing about it twelve times is just an overkill," Izzy complained.

"I think you just don't like it because it involves physical endurance, Izzy," Tai retorted.

"Leave Tai alone," Davis scolded. "He has every right to praise my abilities if he wants to!"

"I'm pretty sure you meant to say you and Ken," Yolie added.

Ken smiled and shrugged. He didn't really care either way. He was just happy that they won. "Davis likes to talk about himself so much that he forgets that there are a total of fourteen guys on our team."

"I thought you both did wonderfully," Kari said.

Ken wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "Well thank you," he whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek. He looked up and saw Tk glaring at him.

"Maybe we should get going," Tk suggested. "I think we can still get into the school." He glared a second longer before turning and leading everyone to the school building.

(A/N: Did the gate get sealed off at the end of the 02 season? Oikawa or Blackwargreymon sealed it off or something? I don't know but it didn't happen in this fic; the digidestined still are able to travel back and forth, but they don't do so as often, and they leave the digimon in the Digital World.)

"I can't wait to see Hawkmon," Yolie screeched as she walked into the computer room behind Tk. She took out her D3 when everyone had entered the room and held it up to the computer. "Digiport Open!"

"That was strange," Kari said when the group had passed through the gate.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"Didn't it feel weird when you went through the Digiport?"

"I didn't notice anything, what do you mean?" Tai inquired.

"I'm not sure, it just felt _different_. It was probably nothing, never mind. We should find Gatomon and the others."

No one pressed the conversation. Davis started forward with his D3 in hand, trying to locate Veemon. "I think that they're all this way," he commented.

Ken took out his D3 as well after Davis insisted that they were standing in the spot that the digimon were located according to the device. Ken's showed the Digimon as being in the same spot, but they were no where to be seen. "This doesn't make any sense," he said.

"Maybe there's something wrong with the D3's," Davis suggested.

Yolie looked over to Kari, who had fallen to the back of the group. She looked lost in thought, if not trying to suppress a painful memory. "Are you alright, Kari?"

"The digimon aren't here," she said finally.

"You know, it really is tragic that they couldn't be here," a voice said. Kari looked over at Ken, thinking that he had said it. It was Ken's voice, but colder. Ken looked around, just as confused as the rest of the group. "They ran into a few friends and couldn't leave without stopping to say hello."

Ken followed the sound of the voice up into the trees. "It can't be… you're dead." Ken looked up in horror as he stared at the source of the sound. Up in the tree, resting comfortably on one of the lower branches, was the Kaiser.

"Do I look dead to you, Kenny boy?" the Kaiser asked, jumping down from the tree. "I'll admit that I spent some time in limbo, but I'm back and better than ever. I told you that this wasn't over, that I was going to come back to get what belongs to me."

Ken's eyes widened with shock as he recalled the last words the Kaiser had said before breaking up into digital data. He promised to come back, he wanted Kari.

Tk put himself in front of Kari. He wasn't about to let the Kaiser have her. The Kaiser laughed at him, taking a long stride to stand to face him. "Honestly, I think we know how this is going to turn out already. Save yourself the pain and humiliation and step aside."

Tk clenched his fists tightly. "Not a chance," he hissed.

Kari grabbed Tk's shoulder. "Please," she whispered. He wasn't sure if she was asking him to protect her or to listen and step aside, but it didn't matter. He wasn't about to let him have her. Tai jumped in next to Tk and raised his fists.

The Kaiser's attack was even faster and stronger than before; he no longer had a link to Ken that would hinder his abilities. Tai tried to block the Kaiser's fist, but it connected with his face, sending Tai backwards.

Ken pulled Kari away, putting her behind him while the Kaiser was busy knocking Tk's feet out from under him. "Stay back," he ordered, as he nodded at Davis. The two teens charged at the Kaiser from behind. Kaiser sensed their presences as they neared and jumped out of the way before they could grab him.

Matt told Izzy, Joe, and Cody to look after Yolie, Sora, and Kari. The three eagerly obliged, not wanting to partake in the actual fighting. Matt joined the fight, landing a powerful punch against the Kaiser's stomach. He was barely fazed, however, and returned the favor with even more force.

Jumping over the falling rock star, Ken was able to surprise the Kaiser and knock him down. He was able to land a few punches before being thrown backwards into Tk. The Kaiser jumped up and grabbed one of the lower branches, hoisted himself up onto it, and disappeared in the trees.

She tried not to act as afraid as she was, but when Kari felt him jump down behind her, she froze with fear. He grabbed her from behind, covering her nose and mouth with a cloth that smelled of a sweet alcohol that dulled her senses and pulled her out of consciousness. Kari collapsed in his arms.

"Kari!" Ken screamed, forcing himself to stand and staggering towards the Kaiser. "Let her go!"

The Kaiser smirked evilly; his eyes were lit up with dark pleasure. He had won, and everyone knew it. As Ken ran towards him, the Kaiser whistled, prompting an Airdramon to fly down and put his body between the Digidestined and him. Kaiser jumped up with Kari in his arms and commanded the Airdramon to take off.

"No!" Ken screamed, watching helplessly as the Kaiser escaped. "Kari!"

Ken turned in time to see Tk's fist heading towards his face. "This is your entire fault!" Tk huffed, his breathing rough from the fight.

Ken stumbled backwards and prepared for a second hit. Fortunately, Matt saw it coming as well and grabbed his younger brother from behind. "This won't help," Matt warned.

"If it weren't for him, the Kaiser wouldn't even exist!" Tk retorted, his voice growing with anger.

"Shut up, all of you!" Yolie shouted, her head down to hide her tears. "Don't you understand that Kari's worst nightmare has just come true, and you are throwing blame around! This isn't Ken's fault any more than it is yours, Tk!" Yolie broke down completely. She had never told anyone, not even Kari, but when they had first DNA digivolved, and their heartbeats had synchronized, Yolie had felt fear and sadness radiating from the very beating of Kari's heart. She could see it in her friend's eyes, every so often she let her guard down, and the pain would show through. Why Kari insisted on pretending that she was fine was beyond Yolie's understanding.

"We need to get her back, now. I'll go by myself if I have to," Ken said.

"You know that I'm coming too," Tai spoke up.

"We all are," Joe added after a moment.

"Then it's settled, let's go save my sister!"

(0)

Author's Note: Finally, chapter one is finished! I expected to have this out about a month sooner, but yeah, like I said, I had trouble getting started. I do realize that this chapter pretty much sucks, too.

The fic I planned on writing, where Ken is an outcast to the group and it starts a Yakari, has been scraped. I never realized how much I sucked at teen drama before trying to put Ken in the situations. So instead I plan on writing a different Kenkari, an adventure/romance with some past Yakari. Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to write the other fic.

Midnight Raindance I made up the thing about the crests, but feel free to use it.

Imperfect, warning noted and followed. Gracias.

If anyone wants to help me write the original KenKari story that I had planned on writing, I would love it. (The one that people voted on). And check out Adventures of the Tainted!

Jillie062


	2. The Dark Spore

Tired Swimmer, sadly, I feel the same way, but I think I might like it less than you. I'm up for any ideas or suggestions.

This fic really needs some love.

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter Two: The Dark Spores**

He set her down gently on the stone ground, waiting patiently for her to awaken. The effects of the alcohol were beginning to fade and movement was viewable beneath her closed eyelids. Finally, she opened her eyes. "Kaiser," she whispered fearfully.

He smirked and placed his hand on her cheek. She pulled away and sat up. "What's wrong?" he asked with fake sympathy.

"Don't touch me," she warned.

"Or what?" he asked, moving himself closer to her. "What could you possibly do to stop me?" The Kaiser cleared his throat and raised himself to his feet. "Stand up," he commanded.

Staring up at him, Kari refused to move. He grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet. Dragging her forward, the Kaiser made his way over to the computer. He had taken her back to the base.

Using one hand to type in coordinates, the Kaiser set up a digital gate. "Where are we going?" Kari asked.

"You'll see in just a second," he replied. "Dark portal open!"

Kari covered her mouth to silence her scream. "No!" She tried to run, but the Kaiser grabbed firmly onto her wrist. "Let me go," she begged.

The Kaiser laughed dryly. All of Kari's suppressed fear and anger exploded at that instant and she thrust her palm up against his nose, catching the Kaiser by surprise. He grabbed onto his face, pain surging through him.

Kari tried to run, but the Kaiser quickly regained his senses and tackled the terrified girl. He pinned her down. "Get off of me!"

"You should know better than to provoke me," the Kaiser hissed. "You know I don't have a problem being stern with you when I have too."

"Stern? Stern!" Kari repeated the word as if it were foreign to her. "You nearly killed me!" Twisting her body sideways, Kari nearly succeeded in forcing him off of her. Nearly.

(0)

"So where do we look?" Tai asked.

"My guess would be the base," Ken stated flatly. He hoped that he was right; he could only image what the Kaiser had in store for Kari.

"Shouldn't we find the digimon first?" Izzy asked nervously. They certainly didn't have the power to stop the Kaiser, he had beaten all of them collectively.

"We don't have time," TK growled, taking the lead. He knew the location of the base better than anyone, having been there both spiritually and physically.

"We can't handle him alone. We need the digimon or we won't have enough power to beat him and save Kari." Everyone stared at Davis for a second. Had he said something intelligent.

"I'm afraid that if we don't get to her soon, it might be too late to save her," Ken whispered.

"Do you really think that he'd kill her?" Tai asked. He couldn't handle that.

Ken really didn't know, but he couldn't take the chance. "I don't know… that was his original intention."

TK grabbed Ken by the collar. "You mean your original intention?"

"NO!" he screamed, pulling TK's hand away from his shirt. He could put up with TK hating him, he would get over TK trying to wring the life out of him, but he would not stand there and let TK accuse him of that.

"Stop it, both of you," Matt yelled. He put himself between the two younger teens and stared at his younger brother. "Get a grip, we're going straight to the base."

TK glared at his brother before returning to his spot in the front of the group. Ken fell back towards the end with Davis. "It will be alright," Davis insisted. "Kari's going to be alright." Ken could tell that his friend was trying to convince himself more than anything.

"That's just it, we don't know. You saw what he did to her before; what makes you think that he won't do it again?" Ken picked up the pace and Davis had to jog to catch up.

"I don't think that he wants to kill her, and I refuse to believe that we won't save her." Davis gave his friend a small smile before walking straight into Tai. "Ouch!"

"Shhh," Tai scolded, holding a finger up to his lips. "We're here."

Davis and Ken stared at the mountain-like base. "We should have demolished it," Ken whispered regrettably.

The group snuck inside the secret entrance on the ground level. They tried their best to remain quiet as they ran through the corridors, Ken now leading the way to the Control Room.

The room was dark and empty. Trying to decide where in the base the Kaiser would have gone, Ken didn't see the computer screen turn on.

An image of the Kaiser appeared. "Hello Ken, and… the rest of you. I was fairly certain that you'd come first to the base, so I thought I'd leave a message with you. Do you honestly believe I would come here, where you'd look first? Not quite the genius you used to be, are you, Kenny? I'll give you a hint to where we went though, it's where you and I first met." The screen went black and a disk popped out of the hard drive.

"It was a recording," Izzy commented.

Ken ran over to the computer and began typing in coordinates. "What are you doing?" Tai asked.

"I'm setting up a portal to where I first met the Kaiser; the Dark Ocean."

Yolie gasped. "He took her there? Oh my God! She's probably more afraid of that place than anything else."

"She is," TK affirmed. "I'm going to get her out of there."

Ken glared. Why was TK trying to be the lone hero? Like everyone else was just going to stand around and wait for him to save her. "Dark Portal Open," he said through clenched teeth.

A fierce wind whipped up sand around their faces and hindered their ability to see. Ken tried to cup his eyes with his hands so that he could see. Looking towards the horizon, he searched for signs of movement.

"Over there!" Cody shouted.

Ken whipped around in time to see what looked like Kari punching the Kaiser in the face. She ran from him, but he tackled her and pinned her down. She struggled to get away, but it was ineffective.

The Kaiser could be seen leaning down and pressing his lips against Kari's. Ken's eyes narrowed and his blood began to boil. "How dare he touch her," he hissed.

The distance between them was significant and climbing the steep hill to reach them proved to be difficult. Ken tried to run faster as the Kaiser and Kari disappeared down the other side of the hill.

She hadn't seen her friends, but the Kaiser had felt Ken's presence. He picked up his pace to get to their destination. The water wasn't far from the bottom of the hill and the Kaiser practically dragged Kari towards the water's edge.

This spot was where the dark spores were found.

They circled around Kari as the Kaiser backed away. "Do you know what these are?" he asked.

Kari shook her head fearfully. She looked around only to find that she was completely surrounded. Looking up, she saw as Ken, TK, and Tai reached the top of the hill.

The Kaiser noticed as well, but he wasn't worried that Ken would disrupt his plans. "These are dark spores," he explained. "I started off as one of these." It seemed strange to him to refer to himself as a bundle of dark energy, but it was the simplest explanation.

"Kari!" Ken yelled, racing down the hill, "hang on!"

He stopped just short of the circle, the others not far behind. The spores seemed to increase their speed, hissing warnings to the young teen to stay away.

The Kaiser was beginning to grow impatient with the spores. A few had gotten closer to Kari, zooming in towards her but flying back out. They were unfamiliar with her purity and were afraid to try to pierce through it. They weren't about to lose their prey, however.

"We have to break through," Ken began.

"I'll do it," TK asserted.

"No, I'm going to do it," Matt intervened. "Both of you need to calm down before you do something stupid." Matt slowly stuck his hand through the encirclement of spores. He retracted it quickly, though, screaming in pain. Blood ran from wounds on his hand and wrist.

"Are you alright?" Yolie asked.

"I'll live, but I think we need a new plan."

The sound of Kari screaming pierced through their ears. She stood there, clutching the back of her neck, biting her lip to prevent any more screams. The spores parted to let the Kaiser through. He grabbed onto her as her knees gave out and she fell unconscious. He flashed Ken a triumphant smile. "That's two to none, isn't it?"

(0)

Yeah, I should make this longer, but I can't right now. I should be updating soon, depends on how nice my teachers want to be after the APs, they might just pile up the homework to make sure we don't forget anything.

Check out my profile for future story info if you're interested.

Quick note to nutjob. Thanks for the info about the gate. I don't think I'll plan an alternate ending, but I have an idea for a VERY dark Kenkari that does not have a happy ending. If I ever have time to start it, of course. Rants appreciated.

Very recently I've started to understand just how annoy it can be to switch between Japanese and American names. I've tried to kill off that habit.

Spread the love- Send a review

Jillie062


	3. The Kaiserin Rises

I megaly need encouragement, right now I think that this fic needs to die. It sucks. (And, yes, I know that megaly isn't a word.)

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter Three: The Kaiserin Rises**

"What are you thinking, Kaiser?" Ken spat as the spores circled faster, reacting to the tension.

"I was thinking that all Kari needed was some dark influence; then she'll see things my way. It worked on you."

"The circumstances were a whole lot different!"

"Maybe if I kill off her brother they'll be more alike? Is that what you're suggesting?"

Tai clenched his fists. "I swear to God that if you don't let her go-"

"God doesn't care, you ignorant bastard. Now be a good little boy and get out of here before I do decide to kill you!" The Kaiser was as calm as ever, showing not the slightest bit of fear. He knew that he was in control.

TK tried to jump through the circle of spores, but Matt used his uninjured hand to grab him and jerk him backwards before the spores decided to rip him apart. Davis was nice enough to put a firm hand on TK's shoulder, warning him to stay put.

The Kaiser feigned a yawn. "It's been fun, but I've got things to do." The Kaiser disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

Seeing him gone, Joe let out a sigh of relief. "That is one evil son of a bitch." Everyone turned with surprised looks on their faces. "What? Like you weren't thinking that as well?"

"We need to get back to the Digiworld," Tai advised. "Maybe we should have found the digimon first, after all."

Izzy slapped his hands against his sides and let out a loud puff of air. "Didn't someone suggest that before? God forbid you listen to the guy with the high IQ!"

"Oh shut up! Maybe if you made an actual effort to help, we'd listen to your suggestions!" Davis interjected.

Matt and Tai exchanged worried glances. Everyone seemed so on edge all of a sudden.

"Leave him alone! You're the reckless moron with an IQ of twelve, but we always do what you say!" Yolie stomped her foot into the ground.

Sora grabbed onto the sides of her head. "You're giving me a headache," she hissed. "Must you use that annoying squeaky voice of yours?"

"What other voice should I use? Your fake sweet 'I'm a wholesome girl' bullshit one?" Yolie retorted.

"You're both slutty and fake if you ask me!" Cody shouted.

"Everyone shut up!" Ken demanded. "This place, if you aren't used to this type of darkness, it makes you act different. Don't you see that you're giving into the darkness?"

"Something you'd know all about," TK muttered.

Ken's eyes narrowed as they had grown accustomed to doing every time TK spoke to him. "Unless you're just a dick, then you act like that anyway."

TK looked ready to lunge at Ken, but Tai made a point of standing between them. He wasn't quite sure why Matt, Ken, TK, and himself were unaffected by the atmosphere, but then he remembered that Ken and TK had been there, and Matt had gone into the cave or something, a long time ago. He didn't have the slightest clue as to why he was unaffected, however.

Ken held up his D3 and the portal reversed, sending them back to the Digital World. They landed scattered about on the ground outside of the base.

Joe immediately scrambled up, dug through his medical bag, and pulled out some gauze, alcohol, and tissue. He grabbed Matt's arm as the blonde was sitting up and poured some of the alcohol onto the tissues.

Matt screamed in pain as Joe began dabbing the cuts with the tissue. "Are you trying to kill me?" Matt demanded.

"No, I'm trying to save you. Who knows what was in the air there." Joe continued by wrapping Matt's arm from the middle of his forearm to his knuckles, avoiding his thumb.

"I can't believe that those things attacked me like that," Matt said.

"They didn't want to lose their prey," Tai responded solemnly.

"We need to find the digimon and then figure out where the Kaiser has reset up the base." TK held out his D3 and set it to detect mode. "It says that they're at the same place we were before; that can't be right."

"If we go back to the Real World, Izzy can use his home computer to locate them, and possibly Kari," Yolie suggested.

"Isn't it on your laptop?" Tai asked.

"No, I took it off so that I'd have enough room on there to write my fanfictions. They're all like seven hundred pages per story, and I ran out of room in the memory."

Tai was shocked. "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard! Everyone knows that people don't read fanfictions anymore!"

"Mine are all quite popular," Izzy retorted.

"Focus!" Ken scolded.

"So we agree to go back home? We should probably make an excuse up for where Kari is, and if we plan on coming back right away-"

"Of course we are!" Tai interrupted.

Matt gave Tai a disapproving look for cutting him off. "If we plan on coming back right away, we need to let our parents know that we won't be home. Or you guys do at least," Matt trailed off.

It took them a while to head back to the TV they had come through, but the digidestined made it there without a problem. "Digiport Open!" Yolie shouted.

The TV sparked, but the portal did not open. Yolie held up her D3 and tried again. "Digiport Open!"

"Kari did say that something was different about the portal when we went through it," Cody reminded everyone.

"The Kaiser must have messed with the signal," Ken guessed.

"So now what?" Davis asked.

(0)

The Kaiser watched the digidestined from the control room. "I knew they wouldn't bother checking here twice," he mused.

"This isn't going to work; it took years for the dark energy in Ken to manifest into you, what makes you think that Kari is just going to wake up and decide to be evil?"

The Kaiser looked down at his feet. Blackwormmon, a digimon that he had created, stood by the Kaiser's sneakers. "If I didn't think of that before hand, I wouldn't be much of an evil genius, would I? I have this." The Kaiser held up a vile of black liquid.

"And what, oh Great Evil Genius, is that?"

"Liquid darkness, the purest and strongest kind. I took it out of the Dark Whirlpool." The Kaiser strolled over to Kari; he had laid her down on the ground in the control room. Pouring the contents of the vile over her, the liquid was absorbed into Kari's skin.

Her body began glowing with an eerie black light. It flickered on and off until the dark energy had been completely absorbed.

"Now what?" Blackwormmon asked.

"Now we wait for her to wake up and see if it worked." The Kaiser lifted Kari into his arms and carried her to her old room. "Stay here, and report to me when she wakes up." Blackwormmon nodded and took position outside of the door.

(0)

He had been monitoring the digidestineds' movements for the better part of a half hour when he felt someone's slender arms wrap around his neck from behind. "Kaiser," the voice whispered seductively in his ear.

After nearly jumping out of his chair from surprise, the girl retreated backwards. "Kari?" The Kaiser moved towards her, and for the first times, she did not step back in fear.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Kari stood there confidently, an innocent smile pressed upon her lips. She used her right hand to tug at the chain around her neck.

"Of course not," he responded. "What's that?" he asked, pulling the chain forward and looking at the heart shaped charm attached.

"It was a gift… from Ken."

For a brief instant, the Kaiser was overpowered by anger, and he pulled at the chain hard enough to snap the clasp in two.

"Gee, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were the jealous type."

The Kaiser's hands went to Kari's cheeks and he leaned in to kiss her. She turned her head, however. The Kaiser tried not to look surprised, but he couldn't help but wonder if the dark energy had not been affective.

"I do still have a boyfriend."

"We'll have to do something about that then, won't we?"

"What do you have in mind?" Kari asked. "You don't plan on breaking up with him for me, do you?"

The Kaiser shook his head shortly. "Not at all."

"I think that it would be best if I did it myself." When the Kaiser didn't reply, Kari gave him a disappointed look. "You think that I'm trying to trick you so that I can run back into Ken's arms."

"That spore is making you smarter already."

"Are you suggesting that I was an idiot beforehand?" Kari demanded, taking a step back.

"Not at all, just not as clever." The Kaiser walked over to the main computer and started typing.

"What are you doing?" Kari asked, taking her place beside him. It may have been the Dark Spore, but Kari felt as if the Kaiser was calmer, gentler, even. She'd have to find out for sure, though.

"I'm stopping some of the frequencies that I put out into the air, so that the D3's can locate the digimon again."

"So you did mess with that."

"Uh huh, and I blocked off the portal. There… done. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"We're going to meet up with the digidestined after they find their digimon so that we can have a little fun."

(0)

"Hey, the signal moved!" Davis shouted as he inspected his D3. "I wonder what made it work again."

"Who cares, let's just find the digimon and get Kari back." Tai looked at the D3. "Follow me," he instructed.

Tai and Davis led the way, carefully studying where the digimon were in case it decided to freeze again.

After walking for about twenty-five minutes, the group was right on top of the signal. "Davish!" a voice called out in the distance

"Veemon! Where have you guys been?"

"We were attacked by some Veggiemon, and they kept us wrapped up for a while, but they just up and left a few minutes ago. It was like they got bored or something."

"Or they were told to leave," Gatomon said wisely. She rubbed her sore paws gingerly. "Where's Kari?" the feline asked, taking a look around.

Ken looked towards Tai, who lowered his head. Neither wanted to tell the white catlike digimon, for fear of the repercussions. "The Kaiser kidnapped her," Davis said finally.

Gatomon jumped at Davis with her claws extended outward. "What did you say? Are you trying to be funny?" she demanded, tackling the startled teen.

Davis landed hard on his back and Gatomon sat onto of him, her claws dangerously close to cutting into his skin. "Yes, I mean, no. Please, don't hurt me."

Tai picked up Gatomon from underneath her arms. "We need your help to get her back," he explained.

Gatomon's ears perked up. "Something is coming," she said.

The digimon all stood defensively in front of their respective human partners. After an embarrassing defeat to a group of Veggiemon, the digimon were eager to prove their strength.

An Airdramon approached, with the Kaiser and Kari standing on him. The Kaiser had his arms wrapped around her, and she looked as if she was struggling to break free.

"Ken!" she screamed, as the Airdramon landed. She wrenched her body free from the Kaiser, and jumped down. Ken met her with open arms.

"Kari, are you alright? What happened?" Ken looked up towards the Kaiser suspiciously. He wouldn't just let Kari go after everything he'd done to get her.

Kari let her arms fall from around her boyfriend. She took his hands in her own for a brief moment before breaking away. Ken opened up his hand to find a chain resting on his palm. Leaning in close to him, Kari whispered in his ear. "Things just aren't working out, Ken. Consider this a gentle break up."

Ken stared in disbelief, his eyes focusing on Kari, then the Kaiser, then Kari again. "But… I don't… what do you mean?"

"Things just aren't working out," she replied, her voice cold and harsh. She left him standing there, walking right past Tai and Gatomon, and returned to the Kaiser.

"Would you like to do the honors?" the Kaiser asked.

"As a matter of fact, I would."

The ground began to shake and a dark mist rose out of the soil. It gathered in one spot, and a figure formed. He was black, with a body that was slightly transparent and was not solid. He looked like a large dragon, with white wings and claws. "This is Oblivomon," the Kaiser explained.

Ken and Wormmon exchanged shocked glances. He had come up with the digimon when he was the Kaiser. He had never created him, however, since he couldn't bring a digimon into existence with such a dark purpose.

"Oblivomon, you know what to do." Oblivomon obeyed Kari's orders, and prepared to attack.

"All the digimon need to get out of here!" Wormmon screamed, ushering them away. "He was created to steal our energy! He's-" Wormmon's voice was cut off sharply, and was followed by a grunt of pain.

Oblivomon had lifted his paw and a long wire had shot out. It latched onto Wormmon's body. Ten other wires shot out of his two front paws, piercing into the other digimon. The digidestined grabbed onto the wires, trying to pry them away, but they wouldn't budge.

Kari's face showed no emotion as the very life energy was sucked out of her friends' digimon. Soon they were too weak to even scream, and the only sound was of Oblivomon sucking in the energy.

"Stop, you're killing them!" Sora pleaded, still trying in vain to remove the wire.

"That's the point," was the Kaiser's rational.

"Kari, you can stop this! Please!" Tai shouted; he was still holding the now paralyzed Gatomon.

"No," she replied simply, a dark smile on her face.

(0)

It's been a long weekend. Friday was work and then dinner for my sister's birthday; Saturday was a parade and then prom; Sunday I left town to be with the family for Mother's Day. I really wanted to get this chapter up, however, since there have been such big gaps between chapters.

I generally don't say stuff to people, but words must be exchanged and I am far too lazy to contact people otherwise.

Nutjob, I would be one of those Yamato fans that would be upset upon meeting a female Yamato. A male Yamato… that's an entirely different story. I hadn't even thought of Yamato being infected, that was a freaking awesome idea. I don't think I'd be able to work it into this fic effectively, but about twelve ideas have been put into my mind, including a side story based on this timeline, with Yama and someone who isn't Kari. I don't know if I could bring myself to put Yama with anyone else though, so it might never happen.

The Aubrey, you have no idea how much I luv Yakari, and making this fic Yakari free is killing me. Must you tempt me with those thoughts? Sadly, no, this is completely Kenkari goodness, which is awesome too.

I'm debating whether or not I want to put in any other couples, I didn't in my original plans, but God knows how much they suck, so I'm asking you. There will be no alternate pairings involving Kari, though. Please don't suggest Sorato, if I ever write an actual Sorato, I will provide any willing participate with a gun, a silencer, and alibi, and my address.

Spread the love- send a review!

Jillie062


	4. The Kaiser's Heart

Ya'll know how I feel about this fic, so insert some negative comment right here. Got one? Okay, then let's begin.

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter Four: The Kaiser's Heart**

"Kari, you can stop this! Please!" Tai shouted; he was still holding the now paralyzed Gatomon.

"No," she replied simply, a dark smile on her face.

Gatomon's paw raised slightly, extended out towards her human partner. She couldn't speak or move otherwise, but her eyes did the talking. Her large blue eyes pleaded with Kari to do something, to save them.

Kari felt a twinge of guilt. The back of her neck began to burn and she rubbed it roughly. The Kaiser noticed and pulled her hand away. "Don't fight it," he ordered. "Don't worry about them, they aren't your friends anymore. Don't worry about the eggs."

"Eggs?" Kari repeated, giving him a defiant glare. She had thought that Oblivomon was going to drain their energy, not revert them back to eggs. That would kill them…

"Digimon don't really die. This is just so that we don't have to worry about them coming after us."

Indifference clouded Kari's mind and the throbbing of her neck decreased considerably. Why should she care about them anyway? She was the Kaiserin now, after all.

The wires pulled out of the digimon one by one, just before the digimon burst into clouds of data and reformed as eggs in their human partners' hands or by their feet. The wire that was attached to Armadillomon was stuck under his shell, and did not pull out in time. The shell of the egg reformed around the end of the wire.

When the wire pulled away again, it broke right through the digiegg. The shell split open. "No!" Cody screamed, picking up the egg and cradling in his arms as he stood up.

Neither the Kaiser nor Kari said a word as they took off, leaving ten shocked teens in their wake. Oblivomon followed close behind.

"I've lost him! Oh, I can't believe he's gone… why did it have to be him? Please, come back to me!" Cody's legs gave out on him, and he fell to the ground, burying his face in the ground as a stream of tears left his eyes.

Yolie ran over to Cody and pulled the depressed teen into her arms. They all knew that digimon didn't really die, that they would eventually hatch from eggs again. Depending on how they went, they'd even be able to keep their memories. But when an egg is cracked… Yolie didn't think there was anyway to save the digimon.

Depression overtook the digidestined, feeling as if they had failed their partners. After everything the digimon had done for them, the humans were powerless to return the favor.

"I can't believe that she just let that happen. How could she just let that happen?" Tai collapsed to his knees and set Gatomon's egg down beside Agumon's.

"She isn't thinking straight," TK reasoned. "The Dark Spore is controlling her."

Matt looked at his brother intently. "TK, we need to talk, alone." Matt led his brother away, not wanting to yell at him in front of his friends.

"What is it?" TK wondered.

"How can you be such a hypocrite?"

TK blinked a few times. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how you refuse to believe that Ken was being controlled, that he hurt us willingly, but Kari must be under the control of the spore!"

"It's different…" TK began.

"No, TK, it's exactly the same! I know that the only reason you refuse to get past who Ken was is because Kari loves him, and everyone knows it too. When we get her back, she's going to be with him again-"

"Shut up!" TK screamed. "You're wrong! You have to be!"

Matt put a hand on his brother's shoulder but TK shook it off. Looking away from the younger blonde, Matt couldn't help but feel guilty for not being a better brother. He rarely ever saw his brother, so he couldn't be there to help him. Maybe he shouldn't have supported Kari and Ken, not when TK loved her so much.

The two blondes were too absorbed in their own misery to notice that their bodies began fading into thin air. Matt doubted his place in his brother's life and TK was seething with anger towards Matt. The darkness took over their bodies and they disappeared.

(0)

"Tai, are you alright?"

"Do I look alright?" he snapped at Sora.

Sora took a seat beside Tai, looking sideways towards Yolie and Cody before focusing back on Tai. "You think that this is your fault," she stated.

"Of course this is my fault! I should have protected her. I'm a coward; I did nothing to help her in the Dark Ocean!"

"The only thing you could have done was jump through the spores and risk getting torn to shreds. What good would you have been then?"

"Maybe they would have gone after me instead!"

"You said so yourself, she was their prey." Sora wrapped her arms around Tai's neck and gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek. "Don't lose your hope now; we can still get her back."

Sora's kind words never reached Tai's ears. He looked down at his hands; the hands he could have saved his sister with. They seemed so distant and useless.

"Hey Tai, do you think it's a good idea to let Matt and TK be off by themselves? Now's not really the best time to be separated. Hey, Tai, did you hear me?" Izzy asked.

"Don't worry about Matt or TK, they've been called," Ken stated in a far off voice. "And Tai's ready to join them."

The group looked at Tai, whose attention was focused on his hands. He was oblivious to everyone else. "Strange," he whispered. "I can see the ground right through my hands."

Sora gasped, she felt Tai's body disappearing from her. "No, Tai! Don't go!"

Davis grabbed onto Ken's arm. "Wake up!"

A hallow laugh escaped Ken's lips. "We have to go now. Can't you hear them calling us?"

"You can't go anywhere, we have to save Kari!"

Turning his head towards Davis, Ken flashed in and out of the dimension. "I've let Kari down, I can't help her."

His eyes were blank and glossy, and Davis wasn't sure if Ken was even there anymore. He shook his friend's arm violently, but it did nothing.

Sora's scream made Davis tear his eyes away from Ken. "Tai's gone!" she cried, wrapping her arms around herself.

Looking back at Ken for some sort of cryptic answer, Davis found that Ken too had disappeared.

(0)

Kari walked away from the Kaiser with out so much as a single word. "Wait," he shouted.

"No," Kari called over her shoulder.

Running to catch up, the Kaiser grabbed onto Kari's forearm and whirled her around. "I said wait," he growled.

"You're hurting me," she replied softly.

The Kaiser let his arm drop. "What is wrong with you?"

"You lied to me!"

"I did not; I just didn't tell you the whole truth."

"You should have told me what was going to happen to Gatomon! I wouldn't have let you do it then!"

As far as the Kaiser could tell, Kari wasn't upset that he had hurt the other digidestineds' digimon, just Gatomon. That was good enough for him. "I'll get the egg back and then when it hatches she'll be just like she was." Maybe Kari could convince Gatomon to join them, even.

"Fine," Kari said shortly. She was in no mood to speak to him until he came through on his promise. "I'm going to bed."

"Well, look at you," Blackwormmon said when Kari had gone. "The evil Kaiser has a heart."

"That's ridiculous," the Kaiser responded, irritated with the worm for eavesdropping.

"Is it? I know that before you had some sick fixation on dominating Kari. Now look at you, practically gravelling at her feet. You want what Ken has with her."

"Had," the Kaiser snapped. "They don't _have_ anything. She left him."

"Yes, but whether or not she left him for you remains to be seen."

"Say one more word," the Kaiser warned. He picked Blackwormmon up by the back of the neck and threw him out of the control room. "Me, a heart; how idiotic could that worm be?"

Mumbling to himself about the absurd statements Blackwormmon had made, the Kaiser headed towards his personal chambers for an early night as well.

(0)

I was thinking about making this a Taito, but I've put in absolutely no clues that would lead one to conclude that either Matt or Tai are gay. Besides, I don't support the pairing, being a Yakari fan makes it difficult to see Matt with anyone else. I'm not bothered by the gayness, my instructor is gay. So I've decided on Taiora. I need someone for Yolie, now.

This fic is staying alive only because I find it extremely irksome when people just end abruptly. I'm glad that some people are enjoying this fic, even though it isn't one of the more popular couplings.

I had senior prom last night and I didn't get home until 5:30. It was freaking awesome! It was soo much better than junior prom!

Someone told me to write a Sorato and that he would be willing to off me afterward; I'm not sure if he just wants me to write a Sorato, or if he wants to shoot me? Kinda scary. It seemed more like he wanted to shoot me, but I may be paranoid. (Maybe it's a she.)

I'm glad that people liked that Izzy is a fan fictioner. (I have a bad habit of making words up.)

Does anyone know where I could find the lyrics for any of the songs Matt's band sings? I've only heard of him singing 'Turn Around' but there has to be more. Right?

Spread the love- send a review!

Jillie062


	5. Getting What He Wants

I actually kind of like this chapter.

**Revenge of the Kaiser **

**Chapter Five: Getting What He Wants**

He had never really been plagued with insomnia in his life; he'd always been able to disconnect himself from Ken enough to get the rest he needed when Ken was suffering from the damnable illness. Thinking back, Ken often had trouble sleeping, always tossing and turning, thoughts of sleep invaded by guilt and worry. Ken had been too soft to be a true tyrant, as Kaiser had realized some time ago. It was the reason he worked so hard to gain control over Ken's conscious emotions and to use them to mold Ken to his will. It had all been so perfect until a certain young woman had fallen into their life.

But for the first time it was Kaiser who found sleep to be a luxury he could not seem to grasp onto. It wasn't guilt that kept him awake, Kaiser was quite certain that remorse was a feeling he wasn't capable of. It was that ridiculous worm and his absurd accusations that kept his mind racing.

Did he have a heart after all?

Kaiser brought his hand up to his chest and felt his heart thumping in his chest cavity. _Of course_ he had a heart, he was a living creature after all. But that hadn't been what he defiant cretin meant.

The real question was: did Kaiser have the _feelings_ associated with 'having a heart?'

And, if he did, what was he supposed to do about it?

Kaiser was accustomed to getting what he wanted. He fought and manipulated Ken until _his_ desires were fulfilled. Although it had taken him a while to realize and come to terms with it, Kari had been something he wanted.

He should have realized that she'd be his ruin. Ken's crest connected him to her in a way that Kaiser could not begin to understand. Bringing her to the base, into their life, was the first step to his inevitable fall from power.

But that didn't really matter at this point. Kaiser had gotten back at Ken for giving him so much trouble. Destroying Ken's partner digimon; trapping him in the Digital World with his pathetic friends; turning the most important person in his life against him–it had all been done to get revenge, and more still could be done.

Kaiser wanted Kari and here she was, sleeping in her old room, answering to his call.

But there was a problem with it.

Kaiser wanted it to be real.

He wanted Kari, with all of her innocence and purity, to see him the way she saw Ken. Without dark influences or false emotions, he wanted her to want him.

He wanted her to _love_ him.

Kaiser rolled himself out of bed. The sun was nearly ready to rise and it was too late to get to sleep. He dressed quickly, putting on the usual outfit, minus the gloves and sunglasses. Checking himself in the mirror, he thought perhaps a new outfit was in order–it would have to wait, though; he had things to do.

Finding himself outside of Kari's room a few moments later, Kaiser hesitated entering. He opened the door slowly, using the light from the hallway to see her sleeping form.

She was lying on her stomach with one arm hanging off the bed. The pillow was thrown to the end of the bed, her other arm replacing it.

Kaiser's feet led him to the side of the bed without him commanding them to do so. For a moment he was reduced to just staring like an idiot, watching her light, even breathing. She shivered a little, being covered only with a light sheet after kicking back the comforter several hours beforehand.

He pulled the comforter back over her, letting his hand linger for a few seconds on her shoulder before brushing her hair away from her face and behind her ear.

Backing away finally, Kaiser reluctantly turned and headed out of the room. He did, after all, have things to do.

Yes, Kaiser was going to have what he wanted.

Somehow, he was going to make it real.

(0)

The digidestined slept in a small circle with the eggs in the center. They shared a light, fitful sleep, plagued by the memories of the previous day. One of their own had fallen victim to the darkness, their digimon were all but dead, and nearly half of their group were gone because of some freak disappearance.

Davis had spent the remaining daylight looking for TK and Matt. When it became to dark to search any longer, Yolei forced him to stop so they could set up camp. There were no signs of either Ken or Tai, and the two blondes had apparently 'been called' with them. Davis had no idea where to begin to search for them.

If he was going to be completely honest, Davis was scared shitless. Everyone that was left was looking to him for leadership. He didn't know whether to look for the guys, to try and get Kari, to wait until the eggs hatched, or to try and find a way home. There were so many problems and complications that went with all of it.

Deciding that the people he was with had become the main priority until a plan could be devised that everyone could agree to, Davis had everyone settle down for the evening to get some sleep. They had no way of defending themselves, so they at least should be well rested in case something came after them.

Ken and TK were his best friends. Matt shared symbol of friendship with him, and Tai was his idol. He wanted to find them safe and sound. The sooner the better.

Kari was his first real friend. She had helped him come out of his shell and gave him such a positive outlook on life. He'd give his life for her any day. Kari had been through so much already, it wasn't fair to let her suffer anymore. He _needed_ to find her safe and sound. He needed to save her before the darkness destroyed her.

Veemon was his protector and an extension of himself. The little guy had done everything in his power to keep him safe. He had to help the egg to hatch to get his friend back. Without the digimon, they were all in danger.

There were people on the other side of that gate that would notice when the digidestined disappeared. Parents, siblings, friends, coaches, teachers, they would all notice the absence of the teens and report them missing. The police would get involved and they would have a huge mess to explain when they got home. He should contact someone to let the parents know what was happening.

"Davis?" Yolei questioned, mid-yawn, as she sat up from the ground. "You did sleep, right?"

He shrugged carelessly. "A little."

Yolei crawled towards the young leader, gazing into his tired eyes. He looked horrible; dark circles under his eyes, pale skin, and somber expression. She didn't like seeing Davis like this. She always looked to him for encouragement and bravery.

"Don't," he whispered, turning his face from her.

"Don't what?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Look at you like what?"

Suddenly Davis was on his feet, trying desperately to make himself feel bigger than her. "Like you think that anyone but me should be leading us. I know that everything is really fucked up right now, and I honestly don't have a goddamn clue as to where to begin to clean it up, but I can't take you looking at me like a failure…not you–anyone but you."

"Mom, I set the alarm, I can get myself up so stop yelling at me!" Joe grumbled miserably into the dirt.

Davis turned away from Yolei, hiding his reddening cheeks from his outburst. But she was right in front of him seconds later, refusing to let him hide from her. She started in a quiet voice, making sure not to wake Joe.

"I could never think of you as a failure, Davis. I think a lot of other things about you, but failure is never it. I trust you to make the right decision that will keep us all safe and get our friends back–."

"I don't know what to do," he mumbled. "I'm scared."

Wrapping her arms around him, Yolei forced Davis into a long embrace. "We'll do it together, then," she promised shyly.

"Armadillomon!" Cody shouted suddenly, bolting into an upright position and waking everyone else up. Yolei and Sora immediately ran to his side, although the latter was still half asleep and unsure what was going on.

Davis decided it was time to take control.

"Izzy, I want you to work on finding the three nearest gates back to our world. Joe, you and I will scrap up some food. Sora and Yolei, watch Cody and the eggs."

Joe got up, using as many unhappy sound effects as he could muster after having just waking up. He was about to get started with Davis when the familiar flapping of wings drew his attention to the skies–and to the Airdramon above them.

Davis was quick to make himself the closest person to Kaiser when the tyrant landed on the ground wearing his ever-confident grin. He raised his fists in preparation to defend the others.

"You seem a little shorthanded," Kaiser noted airily. "Where are the rest of you?"

"That's none of your damn business," Davis spat back.

"Davis, don't provoke him," Yolei scolded.

"Smart girl. You really should try listening to her sometime." Kaiser made his way passed Davis, who was not stupid enough to initiate a fight. "I won't be long," he promised.

"What do you want?" Davis demanded.

"That question has been bothering me all night, actually," Kaiser replied in a calm, almost amused tone. He continued by Yolei, Sora, and Cody, to where the eggs were gathered in a small circle.

Cody snapped; he threw himself at Kaiser, screaming about vengeance and kendo practice and Armadillomon. The Kaiser simply knocked the boy back into Yolei's arms before kneeling down by the eggs.

Gatomon's egg was taken and Kaiser stood up to leave. "I'll see you around, Davis. Oh, and where ever Ken is, do tell him that Kari sends her regards?"

(0)

Steam escaped from the newly opened door as Kari walked out of the bathroom from a long, hot shower. She sported a black halter-top and jean Capri, courtesy of when Ken had gathered up clothing for her when he broke into her house less than a year ago.

She nearly screamed with happiness when she spotted a small, white egg sitting against her pillows on the bed. Kaiser had gone back and gotten the egg for her, just like he said he would last night. She was going to have to go and thank him…

(00)

Okay, really short, especially after such a long delay in posting. Next chapter will be at least twice as long. I'm not out of my funk yet, though, so updating still feels pretty forced. I do want to get this fic finished, though.

Spread the love-send a review!

Jillie062


	6. Dragomon's Warning

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter Six: Dragomon's Warning**

* * *

When his chair was turned around and Kari climbed into his lap, calling Kaiser surprised was an understatement. Kari wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body close to his and leaning in to kiss him.

"Thank you," she whispered before the space between their lips vanished and the silky feel of her lips flooded his senses.

_If this is what she's going to do every time she forgives me, I should make her angry more often._

Kari backed out of the seat, pulling Kaiser along, keeping their bodies connected with their lips. Kaiser pushed her against the wall and began trailing kisses down her neck, biting and teasing the sensitive skin until he heard Kari gasp lightly and bury her fingers in his hair.

The kisses became more heated, fingers trailed dangerously close to the hem of her black halter, and the feel of her flesh was becoming more and more intoxicating. Delicately, waiting for her to tell him to stop or slow down, Kaiser pulled on the knot of the halter and pushed away the string.

"Master, at the risk of you severely hurting me, I thought I should inform you that there's an e-mail here from Dragomon." Blackwormmon lifted one claw away from his covered eyes, sneaking a weary glance at Kaiser.

"Open it," he grunted in response, not yet willing to let Kari go.

Kari read over the e-mail with half lidded eyes, still receiving kisses pulsating with desire along her neck and shoulder.

_Kaiser and Kaiserin,_

_It does me great honor to address the both of you together. I thought it beneficial to inform you that four of the Chosen have fallen into my half of the Dark Ocean. Tai, Ken, Matt, and TK are on the beach. Is there anything specifically you would like to have me do to them?_

_Dragomon, The Undersea Master_

"You're Kaiserin now," Kaiser whispered against her flesh as he turned back to face her after reading the e-mail. "What do you want to tell him?"

"I don't care what he does to them, so long as he doesn't hurt Tai."

* * *

The wind whipped against his face with a scornful smack. Rubbing the sand from his eyes, Ken tried to see his way through the unyielding sand storm. In the distance he could just barely make out the outline of another; but in his current state, he could not tell if it was friend or foe.

Throwing caution towards the bitter whipping wind, Ken trudged forward towards the face-down figure. He broke into a sprint upon recognizing the stagnant body as the brown haired older bearer of courage.

Tai was lying on his stomach with his face buried in the sand. The sand gathered up along his right side, indicating that he'd been there a while. Ken quickly pushed the older teen onto his back and prayed that he was alright.

Tai's breaths were slow and sporadic, like someone was pushing down on his abdomen at random intervals to keep the air flowing in and out of his lungs. Grasping onto Tai's shoulders with a hysterical urgency, Ken shook the brunette; coaxing him to awaken.

"Lemme go," Tai mumbled finally, before opening his eyes and coughing up the sand settled in his throat. "What happened?"

"I think we've been sent to the Dark Ocean again," Ken reasoned, taking in the surrounding beach area.

"What the fuck for?" Tai demanded irritably, letting his fingers sink into the sand as he forced his aching body into a sitting position.

"I don't know, but I'd be willing to bet it has something to do with Kari."

The statement silenced Tai, and for a long moment he just sat there, squinting against the wind, his back straightened to the point of being uncomfortable. "I thought, I mean I really don't know anything about this place, but I thought that a portal could only be opened by a D-3."

"Maybe it was." Ken replied softly. "I don't know for sure, but I think we were put in a trance before we came here. Maybe TK or I—TK! Matt and TK both came here with us! We have to find them!"

Tai's eyes wandered over Ken's features suspiciously.

"How do you know that they're here?"

"I don't know," he replied, ignoring the unintentional glare fixed on Tai's face. "But I'm sure they are."

Tai gathered himself on his feet. "Then we should start looking for them."

They walked with the wind to avoid the sting in their eyes, their hair thrashing about to the wind's dictations. Neither spoke much, other than to offer a suggestion for their search, though their thoughts were virtually one and the same.

They stalked along together, both weighed down by their own miserable insecurities so much that their feet sank down nearly an inch into the sand with every step. But nothing was said about the guilt that sent their hearts to the floor; no, neither could confide in the other, both half expecting the other to issue the blame away from their persons.

Tai wanted to tell Ken that it was his fault that Kari was at the mercy of Kaiser; to blame the dark eyed teen for bringing Kaiser into existence in the first place. He wanted to hate Ken for everything he did to Kari less than a year ago, for the pain he had caused him and his family. But shouting out painful labels of blame and failure would be pointless. Deep down Tai knew that Ken had been a victim as well, that he had needed saving even more than Kari had. And to call out his faults for not protecting her now? Tai cringed at the thought of what he had done to protect his sister, at how he had been a coward and let Kaiser get away with Kari.

"Ken! Tai! Oh, thank God we found you!"

Two pairs of eyes snapped up, both focusing on the blonde waving his hands above him in the distance. Tai grinned in spite of himself, grateful to have been found by the one person who could talk some sense into him at that moment.

Matt stood atop a sand mound with TK just behind him at the base. Ken and Tai broke into a run until they reached the two brothers, sucking in sand and air as they attempted to catch their breath.

"See, TK, I told you Ken and Tai were here somewhere," Matt smirked, slipping back down the sand mound and standing next to his brother.

"That's great, Matt, really. I'm ecstatic. Now all four of us can be lost and confused together while Kari is still at the mercy of that--," he paused, eyes narrowing at Ken, "that inhuman bastard."

"Get a grip, TK, you aren't helping." Matt frowned at his little brother before turning to face Tai. "How are you holding up?"

Tai bit his lower lip delicately. "I need to get her back," he whispered, straining to stop the sob from escaping his throat. "I need her to be alright."

"Such a sorry group of humans you are."

Behind TK, hiding in the torrent of sand that the wind carried, was a Scubamon. Matt gripped his brother's shoulders and pulled him back as means of protection, to which the Scubamon let out a hoarse laugh.

"If I came here intending to hurt you, you would be dead already. I come with an invitation from my master, Dragomon. If you would be so kind as to accompany me to his Undersea Palace, he will explain to you the purpose of your being brought here."

"Do we trust him?" Matt whispered.

"I don't think we have another option," Ken answered.

"Of course we do: we say no," TK spat back.

"And do what; sit around until the sand buries us alive? Let's face it, we only have one option." Tai took a step forward, shielding his eyes as he cut down the distance between him and the Scubamon.

"You will see my master, then?"

"Yes," Tai obliged. "Lead the way."

The others had no choice but to follow as the Scubamon led through the sand storm until the base of a cliff became visible. There was a single blemish along the base, which took the form of an arched doorway.

TK stopped, suddenly alarmed. "I've been here before; this is where Kari was summoned to by the Scubamon."

"That is correct," the Scubamon guide drawled. "We called Mistress Kari to our world to save us from the dark force that imprisoned us and weakened our master."

There was only one pathway through the cave, a winding, slanting, long path that went beneath the ocean towards the Undersea Palace. It was lit by a magic line of fire that was engraved into the wall above their heads.

"You will wait in the throne room while I inform Master Dragomon of your arrival," the sea animal directed.

"How do we know that we weren't just brought here so this Dragomon guy can torture and kill us?" Tai remarked after the Scubamon had vacated the room.

"I'm sure he would have just dragged us down here and stuck us in the dungeon if that were the plan," Ken tried to reassure them.

"Indeed, lads, you think very low of me if you think I only brought you here to kill you."

The group spun around to face the large, tentacle-laden body of the Undersea Master. They stood in awe of his grotesque body; the tentacles group together by various chains and bands; the single wing that stuck out from the middle of his grey-blue back; the thorns that protruded his left shoulder; the red markings on his forehead; the unusually large and off-centered lower jaw.

He moved gracefully, despite his awkward body, and in a manner that demanded the attention of the four boys. Ignoring their pitiful stares, Dragomon sat upon his throne and took a drink from the wine glass he kept on a side table within reach.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," he began, letting another small sip of wine pass down his throat.

"Maybe, just a little," Tai replied, running a hand through his brown locks.

"It's tragic, really," Dragomon droned, stirring the red liquid around, "what's become of her."

"Kari," Ken whispered aloud.

"Yes, our dear, sweet Angel of Light, drawn into the darkness and still—" his body stiffened suddenly, his grip tightening on the goblet until it shattered between his tentacle, "untouchable."

Matt shot Tai a weary glance, afraid of how the bearer of courage would act.

"What do you mean?" Tai demanded, watching the wine drip down Dragomon's grotesque blue-grey flesh.

"I won't lie to you, Courage; I've been trying for years to find a way to bring Kari to my palace. I'm sure Hope will remember my closest, almost successful attempt."

"The Scubamon summoned Kari to save them and to overthrow you!" TK challenged.

"Alas, dear boy, you are mistaken. It was all a hoax, a jest, if you will. I had them offer her a chance to be queen, a chance to overthrow the tyrant that terrorized this world. My Scubamon servants were to tell her anything that would bring her to my palace."

TK shook his head doubtfully. "Why trick her?"

"Because I could not force her to come to the Undersea Palace. She was too pure and innocent to be brought, but if she came by her own free will, under false reasoning or not, I could keep her. But Kaiser, with all his schemes and attempts, he still has not altered her enough for me to bring her here.

"I brought him back so that he could change her, make her dark and hateful. The poor git came into possession of some liquid darkness, from the center of the Dark Whirlpool. But he used it without understanding how it works. There has to be enough darkness to connect with in the first place. Kaiser thought that the Dark Spore would be enough, but it would have needed years to manifest into something usable. So, the liquid darkness had to feed off Kaiser's dark heart, reflecting his desires through Kari. He wanted her to want him, and so she shall. But what he doesn't understand is that she is not evil and the darkness is being used up far too quickly without a solid connection to a human host. Kaiser has what he wants, a Kaiserin, for a time at least."

"Where do we come into this?" Ken asked.

"Ah, that was my next point. You see, Gennai and the other guardians of the Digital World entrusted Kari with a very special gift. She holds within her the power of the Light, locked away in her soul where even she can not actively reach it. For security measures, four Chosen Children were specifically selected to protect the human who carried such immense power. Tai, you and Matt were once told that you were the protectors of Hope and Light. Both of you took it as a duty to protect your own siblings, when in reality the saying meant that each of you have the duty of protecting the Hope and protecting the Light. The crests of Hope and Kindness are unique in the way they react with the crest of Light, creating a stronger connection between you and Kari. All four of her guardians stand before me now because they failed in their duties."

"So what, you brought us here to call us failures? Thanks, but I'm aware," Tai spat.

"I spoke to the Kaiserin via e-mail earlier; she is aware of your being here and has granted me the pleasure of doing whatever I please to you, with the exception of Tai. You are not to be harmed."

Matt and TK caught each other's worried glances.

"No, I do not intend to kill you; not at the present time, at least. You miss my point. She cares about Tai's wellbeing—there is still time for you to reach her before the liquid darkness is spent."

"Why would you want the liquid darkness to fade? Don't you want it to find a way to manifest itself in Kari?" Matt questioned.

"The liquid darkness and the Spore need the host body to have enough evil within it to attach onto. Kari lacks such a core within her. The liquid darkness will accelerate the rate at which the Spore feeds off her. Where Kaiser thought it would make an alternate personality, like in Ken's case, it will really only look for a source of energy to feed off of. Without the core of darkness, it will feed off her life force. She will die if you do not stop it. That is why I will not kill you; you are the only hope to save Kari."

"How long do we have?"

"A few days at the most. More likely than not she will fall ill by this time tomorrow. She will not last long after the illness starts."

* * *

I know I shouldn't have taken this long to have an update, but guard is slowly but surely sucking the life out of me and school isn't much better. That and I got myself a boyfriend. Woot!

Let me know if this chapter made sense. Basically, it's supposed to say that the Spore doesn't affect Kari the same way because she isn't evil enough to begin with. That and the Spore needs something to feed off so once the liquid darkness is gone, it's going to use her life force. Did that make sense up there?

Look up Dragomon if you don't know what he looks like. He's a sick looking freak-show!

As always, I'd love a review.


	7. Fading Fast

**Revenge of the Kaiser **

Chapter Seven: Fading Fast

* * *

After Dragomon had ruined the moment between them, Kari left Kaiser to his work. She was heading back to her room when she thought of her D-3. For some reason, one she had no answer to justify it with, she wanted her D-3 returned to her. She doubted that Kaiser would just give it back to her, even if she did ask nicely; his suspicions had not completely dissipated yet.

She didn't want to tell him, anyway. It was her property to begin with; she didn't need his permission to keep it with her.

She was surprised to find it sitting out on the desk in his bedroom, lying idle beside her D-terminal. She had no interest in the computer, however, having no desire to contact the Digidestined. Taking the D-3 and gently clasping it in her fingers, Kari headed for the door.

She stumbled forward, collapsing against the doorframe as a wave off nausea stole her balance. She coughed, doubling over as bile rushed into her throat and burned the back of her mouth. She swallowed thickly, wincing at the terrible taste. Dismissing the feeling from her senses with a sharp shake of her head, Kari straightened. She rubbed her now pounding head with her free hand, exiting the room and shutting the door behind her.

She made it back to her bedroom before the feeling struck again. This time it overpowered her completely, sending Kari to her knees as she grabbed her abdomen in agony. She half crawled over to her bed, shoving the D-3 under the mattress. She tried to lift herself up onto the bed, but her legs gave out and she came crashing down onto her stomach.

Kari barely had the strength to force her body into a sitting position; legs half curled uncomfortably beneath her, half her weigh pushed forward on her trembling palms. Her body convulsed, and a gagging noise resounded in her throat, just before the contents of her stomach were hurled onto the ground by the corner of the bedpost.

Grateful that she'd avoided vomiting on herself, Kari shrunk away from the mess, sliding herself back on the ground. Rolling onto her side before her arms had a chance to give out like her legs had, Kari drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them with all the strength she had.

The light faded out from around her as her mind left the conscious realm.

* * *

Davis was on the verge of a breakdown by the time the sun began to sink into the horizon. They'd found no clues as to where Ken, TK, Matt, and Tai could have gone, even after looking for them all day. Izzy was unsuccessful at opening any of the three portals they'd gone to. He was running out of patience and the will to go on.

The rest of the group wasn't fairing well, either. Cody began mumbling into the eggshell that he cradled in his arms like it was his child, speaking as though Armadillomon were being held in his sweaty palms. Everyone was half starved and overtired to the point of exhaustion.

"Maybe we should take a break," Sora suggested, placing her hands on Cody's shoulders to stop him from moving. "Let's look for some food."

Davis sighed, unable to disagree with the grumble within his stomach. "Alright, but let's not split up too much, we don't need to start another rescue party. And keep an eye out for—oh my God!" Davis backed away, staring at the thick grey cloud that was forming above him.

Four bodies fell from the grey void, arms flailing and feet kicking. Davis found himself at the bottom of a five man pile-up with a face full of dirt.

"TK, get your hand off my ass!"

"Sure thing—just as soon as Tai gets his foot out of my eye!"

"I think you're crushing my spleen!"

Tai was the first to disentangle himself, simply rolling his body from the top of the pile and onto the ground. TK and Ken trashed about for a moment before climbing to their feet. Matt staggered up, holding onto his stomach and backing away cautiously.

A squeal erupted from Davis' throat as he jumped to his feet. "It's you! And you! And you and you!" He lunged forward, grabbing for the closest person—Ken—and hugged him with all his strength. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

Sora shut her eyes tightly, letting a few tears fall from her face. "Tai…" Words failed her as more tears threatened to fall and she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Sor," he began, letting himself fall into her embrace, "I'm sorry."

"Shh," she commanded, running her hand through the brunette mess of hair. "Forget about it."

"What did we miss?" Matt inquired.

"Not much, we walked around a while, stood around a while, Kaiser took Gatomon's egg, oh, and we walked a little more."

"Gatomon!" Tai growled, grabbing onto Davis' shirt. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Shut up Tai. Let him go. Davis, did Kaiser say anything worth mentioning when you saw him?" Matt asked.

"Um, no, not that I can think of," Davis replied, smoothing out his shirt. "A little taunting here, some jerky remarks there, nothing unusual."

"Why do you ask?" TK asked.

"It's just a thought: Kari wanted to protect Tai when he went to the Dark Ocean. I can only assume she wants to protect Gatomon until the egg hatches. Maybe our way to reach her is through one of them." Matt shrugged and stuffed his good hand into his pocket. "It's just an idea, though."

* * *

There was much work to be done.

Most of the important information on the base's hard drive had been deleted and almost all of the CDs had been ruined. All of the rings and spirals had burst into data after the digimon from the dungeons trampled on them. The only thing left from the spires was the unpleasant memories of their downfall.

And yet, Kaiser had no interest in rebuilding his empire.

At least not alone.

Every idea that he came up with was rejected because he didn't know how Kari would react to them. He wanted her to be a part in the reconstruction of the life they were going to share together.

Kaiser decided to wait until Kari was with him before continuing on with his work. He sighed, shutting down the main program and exiting the control room.

Wondering if Kari wanted to join him for dinner, Kaiser headed towards her room. A strange feeling entered his being, a strong sensation of unease. He broke into a run, not understanding the feeling coursing through his veins.

"Kari!" he shouted, throwing open her door and flipping on the light switch. His jaw dropped open at the sight of her, curled into a ball on the ground, unconscious.

He fell to her side, turning her onto her back and shaking her lightly. "Wake up!" he shouted, shaking her harder. Kaiser pulled her up, cradling her in his arms. "Wake up," he repeated, placing kissed on her forehead.

_She's burning up,_ he realized. "What's happening to you?"

* * *

Alright, that took entirely too long, didn't it? I need to get this done, though, so I can be done with it. Maybe I'll camp out in my computer room for a day or so and write the next four (?) chapters and be finished.

The middle section is really sucky because I couldn't figure out how to say what I wanted to say and I just pushed through it to get it done with.

Dragomon is a bad guy, but I set him up to be more of an issue in the next installment. He won't be around for the rest of this fic. But I don't think I'll go through with a part three because it was going to be long and include season four and everything. I have too many other ideas and hate this fic too much to seriously play with the idea.


	8. Complications

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter Eight: Complications**

* * *

"So…what's next on the agenda?" Davis asked the weary group around him. He was answered with a few impassive shrugs from Izzy, Ken, TK, and Matt, a soft grunt from Joe, and an annoyed stare from Yolei.

"We need to get Cody out of the Digital World," Sora spoke after a moment. "He needs to get away from all of this."

"I agree," Yolei added, watching as Cody sat himself on the ground and held onto the egg as tightly as possible.

"Nope! I have been assigned the duty of protecting the prize!" He held the egg up to be seen for a moment before once again tucking it under his arms. "I shall sit here, for as long as it takes!"

"He's really lost it," Davis gaped.

"Which is why we need to get him out of here," Sora hissed in an urgent whisper. "Maybe we can get him back to normal when the constant reminder of the Digital World isn't suffocating him like this."

"His partner is dead; the location is of little significance," TK muttered darkly. "Besides, I'm not leaving without Kari."

"What about our parents? Or school? I hate to sound insensitive about the situation, but there are people on the other side who are going to notice that we didn't come home for dinner these past few nights." Joe shook his head, discouraged.

"I don't doubt that Mom called the cops as soon as we missed curfew. And it's been more than forty-eight hours, so they'll have to listen to her now," Tai added.

"Exactly," Joe began, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "so why don't we figure a way to get back, and get things sorted out at home? Besides, right now we're just begging for a digimon to come and attack us. Our digimon can regain strength at home where we can protect them."

"No, it takes weeks for an egg to hatch _in_ the Digital World. It would take months for them to hatch in our world, if they're even capable of it. We have to stay here. I'll fight Kaiser by myself if I have to," TK said.

Matt stepped forward. "Mimi," he breathed, casting his gaze over the group.

"Is the only one not stuck in this situation. Did you want to bring her here so we can all suffer together?" Yolei muttered sarcastically.

Matt shook his head, glaring at the lavender-haired girl. "If I may continue," he hissed, "we can contact Mimi so she can tell her parents that we're alright. We'll have her speak with my father—of all the parents, we're most likely to tell him that we had to go to the Digital World for an emergency—."

"And he's the one most likely to get so wrapped up in his job that he forgets to tell the rest of the parents!"

Matt lowered his head, his bangs covering his eyes. "Right," he mumbled, running his hand through his golden locks. "You got it, Davis."

Izzy crossed his legs as he lowered himself to the ground. Using his knees, he held his laptop up and began typing furiously. "I'll send Mimi that e-mail."

* * *

Sora was the first to hear the now all too familiar sound of an approaching Airdramon. Sure enough, Kaiser came into sight. "Tai…" she whispered urgently.

Kaiser dismounted quickly, jumping down before his beast had even landed. Four Vegiemon hopped off right after. "That one," Kaiser growled, pointing towards Joe, "Grab him!"

A Vegiemon advanced towards Joe. "Hey now, I'm more the guy that gets left behind then the guy that gets kidnapped," he said, holding his hands up and backing away.

Kaiser turned towards Izzy. "That one too."

Izzy blanched, eyes wide. He scurried to his feet, wrapping his arms around his laptop as if it would protect him.

"What do you want with them?" Matt demanded, stepping in front of Joe to defend the elder boy.

"I don't have time for you right now," Kaiser hissed, voice low and strained. His hands clenched into fists. "Step aside."

Matt felt his body begin to shake, Dragomon's words ringing through his mind. "Fine, take them then, but take me too."

Kaiser nodded towards an idle Vegiemon. He didn't have time too argue or fight with the Digidestined.

"Matt, are you crazy?" Sora gasped.

Matt couldn't answer; Vegiemon's long arms wrapped around him, forcing the breath in his lungs out.

Davis shook his head. "Are we really going to let him just take them?"

"Yes," Tai answered.

"But what if he's taking them to torture and kill them?" Davis challenged, watching the three boys being dragged unceremoniously onto Airdramon.

"What? Hey! I don't need to hear that!" Joe panicked, shrinking back as the fourth Vegiemon approached him with a blindfold.

"Shut up Joe," Matt said as a blindfold was wrapped around his eyes. "Just calm down."

* * *

Joe grunted as he fell hard against the cement. "I don't know what I did to deserve this!" he pouted, using his newly freed arms to pull away the blindfold.

Kaiser stepped over Izzy carelessly. "Follow me."

Matt helped Izzy to his feet, removing the blindfold so the computer genius could keep his firm grip on his laptop. "Why are we here?" Izzy questioned quietly.

"NOW!" Kaiser shouted.

Matt tilted his head towards Kaiser, suggesting that they follow. Joe and Izzy fell in step behind him, heads hung in silent desperation. "Why us? It's _never_ us."

"Didn't he explain it to you?"

Joe jumped, looking around frantically. "Who said that?"

"I did; down here."

"Who are _you_?"

"My name is Blackwormmon."

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Do you know why we are here?"

"Of course I do. You are here to save the Kaiserin. I'm guessing that you are the really smart one, and the tall, panicky boy is the semi-trained doctor."

Joe frowned, removing his glasses and wiping them clean with his shirt. "What's wrong with Kari?"

"She's dieing, I bet," Matt spoke solemnly.

"She's not well at all," Blackwormmon concurred. "My master does not know why she is so ill, but it worries him greatly."

Kaiser cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the small group. "In here," he growled, nodding towards an open room.

Matt was the first to enter, taking note of the supine body upon the bed in the center of the room. "Kari," he gasped, running to her.

Joe was right behind him, stumbling over his own feet in his haste. He swatted Matt's arm, urging him to move aside. "When did she get like this?"

Stepping inside the room, Kaiser moved to the opposite side of the bed. "I found her unconscious a few hours ago."

Placing his palm on her forehead, Joe sighed, discouraged. "Her fever seems pretty bad."

"It's one hundred and two degrees."

"Vomiting?"

"She can't keep a sip of water down."

Kari moaned, clutching her stomach and turning onto her side. Matt watched as Kaiser's entire body tensed up, as if he too were in pain. Using his injured hand, Matt brushed away Kari's damp hair from her face.

"Matt?" she questioned weakly, reaching out and touching his forearm with a shaky hand, "is that you?"

"Yea, Kari, it's me."

"You were in the Dark Ocean—."

"Don't worry about that right now."

"No," she whispered, swallowing thickly. "I didn't care when I heard…I do now. I'm sorry."

"You can make it up to me later."

"Tell Tai and Ken that…" Shutting her eyes, Kari let out a pained gasp, tightening her grip on Matt.

"Joe, do something!" shouted Matt.

"You knew, Matt," Izzy suddenly spoke, his tune accusing. "You knew she was like this before Blackwormmon said anything."

"Joe you need a scalpel," Matt spat, eyes narrowed on Kaiser. "The only way to save her is to remove the spore."

"No. Removing the spore would make her not love me anymore. I can't allow that."

"Will you condemn her to death?"

"Yes!" Kaiser snarled, "if it means she'll die loving me and not Ken! Vegiemon!"

The four Vegiemon scurried in, bowing to their master. "Take them back to their group. They are of no use to me."

"You can't just let her die!" Matt shouted, resisting the pull of the Vegiemon. "You're a fool! Didn't you hear her tell me that she was sorry? She cares about us! She cares about Ken! The liquid darkness is spent so if you let her die she'll die hating you!"

"Take the blonde one down to the dungeon," Kaiser commanded.

Slamming the door shut, Kaiser fell back against it. "Fuck."

"What will you do?" Blackwormmon demanded.

"…I don't know."

… … … … … … … …

Well that didn't take too long. It wasn't six months : ) You know, Shattered took me less than two months to complete, and this is already like nine months old! I need to finish this before it's a year. Let's hope.

I thought it was cute (in a disturbing type of way) that they referred to the alert malfunction as a 'hiccup.'


	9. A Glimpse of Light

**

* * *

**

Revenge of the Kaiser

**Chapter Nine: A Glimpse of Light**

* * *

Kaiser glanced over at Kari. There were spots of blood on the sheets around her from the incision into her neck. The bandages covered by her hair hid fresh stitches.

The spore was gone. The Kaiserin was no more.

Kaiser could barely feel the movement of the gray orb between his fingers; his entire body was nearly paralyzed with numbness. "What a waste," he mumbled, crushing the spore between his fingers. "What a god damn waste."

"At least she's alive," Blackwormmon whispered cautiously. "And she's looking better all the time."

"The spore was supposed to be full proof. How could it have failed? I need to come up with a new plan."

* * *

"What happened, exactly?" Tai demanded, disregarding the painful grunts being emitted as Joe and Izzy picked themselves up from the ground.

"Give us a second, won't you?" Joe complained, sitting on his knees and pulling away the blindfold. "We were just thrown off Airdramon's back."

"I don't have a second," Taichi returned, grabbing the torn collar of Joe's shirt and pulling him onto his feet. "Did you see her?"

Panicked, Joe pushed Tai away. He straightened his glasses, remaining silent.

"There's something wrong with her," Izzy answered delicately, afraid of Tai's reaction. "She's really sick. Matt seemed to know more about it, and he got himself thrown in the dungeon."

"What?" TK shouted, face paling.

"He told Kaiser to remove the spore or Kari was going to die, so Kaiser sent him away. Kaiser seemed know that Joe couldn't do anything and shipped us off as well. I'm sorry, but he didn't even really give us a chance to look at her. He pretty much just took what Matt said and threw us out."

"And Matt pissed him off enough to get sent to the dungeon," Joe added softly.

"Christ," TK whispered, rubbing his face with the heel of his palm. "We shouldn't have let him go…I should have gone."

"And be in the dungeon instead of him? That would be helpful."

"Shut up, Tai. He's my brother for God's sake!" TK shouted, falling onto his knees and grabbing the sides of his head with both hands.

"When the guardian of Hope falls into despair, there is no reaching him without the Light to guide him back," Cody whispered into his egg.

"Why is he suddenly all prophetic?" Davis demanded. "He's been babbling about protecting some stupid prize for the past few hours."

"Way to be sensitive, Davis," Yolei growled.

"Guys! Mimi responded to my e-mail! She says that she called Matt's dad; our parents have been freaking out but when they realized all of us were gone, they decided that it would be best to leave the cops out of it for a few days."

"Oh thank God,"

* * *

It felt as though her being consisted of lead weights. Her body was covered with a cold sweat that made her shiver. She felt as though she had died twice and been run over. Everything hurt. It took all of her energy to pull herself into a sitting position. Pausing for a moment, Kari let the rush of dizziness pass.

A knock on the door finally inspired Kari to slip off the bed. She needed to prepare herself to see him.

"Kari, are you awake, can I come in?" Relieved that the voice belonged to Blackwormmon, Kari opened the door for him. "Oh good, I was hoping you would be awake. How are you feeling?"

"Wonderful," Kari answered sarcastically, "like a whole new person." After pausing to appreciate the irony in her statement, Kari closed the door. "How long do I have until he comes?"

"Master is very upset about, well, you know, your body not accepting the spore anymore. He was in the lab trying to think of an alternative when I left to see you. I'm sure he'll be here soon, though, to check on you."

"Blackwormmon, why do you serve him?"

"Me?" Blackwormmon exclaimed, like the question must be a joke. "I would think it would be obvious. I was created to be loyal. I may be the dark version of Wormmon, but I basically am Wormmon. Kaiser made me that way because even though Wormmon was loyal to Ken, Master still formed an attachment to him, or to ruling over him, anyway."

Kari nodded, feeling bad for the digimon. But if Blackwormmon was made in Wormmon's image than he wasn't really evil.

Kari turned the lock on the door. "Blackwormmon, I'm going to escape." As the digimon's face turned to reflect his horror, Kari added "and you're going to come with me. If I left you here then Kaiser would use you as an outlet for his anger."

"You can't!" he shouted, shaking his head frantically, "besides, there's no way you'd get pass security."

"We're exiting through here. You can use one of your attacks to break the bars on windows, and then spin a web we can climb down."

"I can't agree to this."

"Blackwormmon, I know that you're not evil. I know that you won't allow me to stay here against my will, not to mention my friends stranded in the Digital World, not when you know you can help."

Silence settled between them.

"Let's get the bars off," he finally sighed.

* * *

It wasn't too difficult to get the bars off the window, but making a string of webbing strong enough for Kari to climb down was going to take some time. On top of that, Kari had made Blackwormmon attach Gatomon's egg to his back, slowing him down further. Kari paced anxiously, moving without purpose except for when she went to grab her D-3 from under her bed mattress.

Blackwormmon could see that Kari was still feeling very weak. He didn't fully understand why it had made her sick, but he was relieved that she was no longer forced to carry the spore in her body.

"Blackwormmon?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that they'll forgive me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I commanded Oblivomon to kill our digimon. How am I supposed to face them? How will I be able to face Gatomon?"

"No one is going to blame you for what happened. They'll just be happy that you're okay. Trust me."

Kari smiled, though still worried. "Thanks Blackwormmon."

* * *

It had been a few hours since Kaiser had entered his lab, but he had nothing to show for it. He needed to make something to make Kari love him again, until she could love him on her own. Something that wasn't going to feed off her life energy would also be helpful.

Kaiser didn't understand how he had allowed the spore plan to fail. He should have tested the liquid darkness, rather than assuming it would work because of its properties. He felt incompetent, and feeling incompetent made him angry.

Stepping away from the computer, Kaiser decided to cool off and begin again with a clear mind. Besides, he wanted to see how Kari was doing. Blackwormmon was supposed to report back to him, but the little idiot probably got distracted.

He made his way up to Kari's room, passing the time by trying to think of other dark materials within the Digital World that may work. Nothing came to mind.

Kaiser tried turning the knob without bothering to knock first, but found that it would not turn. "Kari?" he called out, "are you awake?"

Feeling a sudden rush of unease, a feeling that, as of late, meant something bad was happening. "Kari!" he shouted, banging against the door, "open up!"

* * *

Panic overpowered Kari. Kaiser was already outside the door and the rope was nowhere near ready. "What do we do?" she whispered, eyes wide with fear.

"I don't know. That door is going to open soon, even if it means that Kaiser knocks it down."

Another feeling suddenly replaced Kari's fear: concern. But it wasn't for herself. It was for…

_Cody?_

She didn't understand why, but Kari knew that Cody needed help and she could give it. She needed to escape first, though.

Kaiser continued screaming her name, and the door began to shake with the force of a digimon ramming into it.

"Can you shoot your web out in midair?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't be strong enough to hold us both."

"You have to go alone," Kari answered, looking determined. She pushed her D-3 into his arms, causing a light to pass from her hands into it, and lifted him up.

The door came down as she threw Blackwormmon out of the window. He flailed for a few seconds before shooting out his web and catching the side of the building. "Go! Find the others," she shouted as Kaiser pulled her away from the window.

Her body was in no state to be tossed around. She collapsed on the ground and tears began to run down her face. She'd been so close to freedom, if only she'd had more time; if only he hadn't come back…

_Kaiser!_

She looked up, terrified, and retreated from him. Kaiser was _seething_. His body visibly shook from his anger.

"Did you think you could escape?" he demanded, grabbing onto her arms and wrenching her off the ground. Do you think I wouldn't find you? Do you think you could take Blackwormmon and leave me?"

She was too afraid to speak. Kaiser didn't have any restraint without Ken's conscious fighting him. She could only imagine what he was going to do.

Kaiser clamped painfully down on Kari's wrist and began to drag her out of the room. "Where are we going," she demanded, trying to pry his fingers off her.

"I can't leave you in here," Kaiser answered calmly. He pulled her along a corridor she wasn't familiar with and opened one of the many rooms. "You'll stay in here so you can think about how stupid trying escape was." The room had no windows, no light source, only long bench along one of the walls.

"Don't worry, my sweet," Kaiser spoke, pulling Kari's face close to his, "I'm not going to hurt you. You wanted to see your friends, I understand." The statement made Kari afraid. "I'll send someone to say hello for you. One of your friends is going to die today."

Ignoring Kari's cries and protests, Kaiser threw her into the room and slammed the door behind her. He headed towards the Control Room, deciding which digimon to send.

Someone had to pay for this.

… … … … … … …

I only have one comment. I don't want it over my head that I didn't finish my fanfics. So rest assured I will finish, just bear with me. There are three chapters left.


	10. Salvation

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter Ten: Salvation**

* * *

Tiny legs weren't meant for traveling far distances, but Blackwormmon was on a mission to reach the Digidestined and help save Kari. He scurried around for hours, diligently following the blinking light on Kari's D-3, praying that he would find her human friends.

Finally the sound of voices carried to his ears. Moving as fast as he could, Blackwormmon followed the sound right into the camp they were setting up.

Sora was the first to notice his presence; her eyes passed over him, and then quickly back to focus on him. She glared down at him for a moment, confused, before averting her gaze to Ken. Realizing that he might be a threat, Sora yelped and grabbed onto Tai's arm.

Suddenly they were all staring at Blackwormmon, making him wonder if they were going to attack him before he could explain.

"You're his digimon, aren't you?" Ken asked, breaking the silence.

Gulping, Blackwormmon nodded. He saw Tai clench his fists. "Kari sent me here," he blurted out to keep from being beaten.

"What? She's alright then?" TK asked, hopeful.

"I, I don't know," Blackwormmon answered, ashamed for leaving her to deal with Kaiser's rage. "I tried to help her escape, but Kaiser caught us. My web couldn't support her so she sent me to you guys so I could bring you Gatomon's egg and give Cody her D-3. I don't know what for, but she said so."

The Digidestined stood for a moment, not knowing what to think of the little worm's comment. With some hesitation, Ken went and picked Blackwormmon up, driven by the memory of how he used to treat Wormmon. He helped get Gatomon's egg off his back before speaking. "What do you think he's going to do?"

"I don't know. Kaiser is undoubtedly furious. The spore failed in its duty and Kari tried to escape, but I don't think he'll take his anger out on her…much."

Ken nodded, not satisfied, but, being unable to get any more information, said nothing else. He took Kari's D-3, and rubbed his thumb against it as it rested in his palm. "Why Cody?" he wondered, extending his hand out to give it to him.

Cody snatched the D-3 from Ken's hand. He laughed manically, holding it above his head and waving his fist violently. Armadillomon's egg rested in Joe's bag; Sora would not let him covet it any longer.

"Ha Ha!" he screamed, taking off in a run.

"Cody!" Joe yelled.

The group pursued the youngest member of their group as he ran to the nearby river. They watched in horror as Cody chucked the D-3 into the water.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Tai demanded, grabbing onto Cody's shoulders and shaking him.

"Let go, Tai, you know he's not himself,"TK said.

"Shh, do you hear that?" Yolei interrupted. "It sounds like footsteps. Big footsteps."

* * *

Kaiser was smug, determined, and _ecstatic_. He'd done it, found a way to keep Kari under his control.

He spent a moment just staring at her. She was laid out on a table in the lab, unconscious. Her face looked troubled, like she was having a bad dream but couldn't wake up. She'd put up quite an admirable fight when Kaiser came in the pitch black room to get her, rushing at him with a sort of desperation that made her unable to stop.

Kaiser had to be harsh with her. He held her tight as she kicked and screamed and struggled, especially when he took out a needle. He knew she hated needles. But he needed her to go to sleep; when she woke up she would be his again.

Kaiser was a genius, after all.

* * *

"Oh yeah, this is exactly what we need right now," Davis muttered sarcastically, pulling Veemon's egg a little closer to him. "Anyone want to guess what's going to eat us?"

"Monochromon," Sora breathed, seeing the dinosaur digimon breaking through the trees as he ran towards them. She glanced around; everyone was frozen.

"We need to run!" Joe shouted.

"No," Tai answered, fists clenched. "We need to fight."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Joe shouted, flailing his arms, knocking his bag backwards with his elbow. He didn't notice Armadillomon's egg falling until it had already hit the water.

Everyone stared wide-eyed as the water pushed it out of reach.

Cody tried to run after it, but TK grabbed onto him. "Look at that current," he warned. "You can't get to him."

"NO!" Cody shouted, falling to the ground pounding his fists in the dirt. "I have to protect him! It's my turn to protect him!"

Monochromon made his presence known.

Sora had to dive out of the way to avoid being pierced by his horn. She groaned in pain. Cradling her right wrist, she scrambled up and away from the digimon. "I think running is a good idea," she shouted.

Monochromon had been instructed to kill only one of the humans, and it seemed that Sora had been chosen. He roared at her, scuffed his foot against the dirt, and lowered his horn at her.

A blinding light shot out of the water. Everyone, including Monochromon, looked at the water. The waves swirled, forming a whirlpool where the light was coming from. The water reversed itself, drawing up and around the light, like a tornado.

Faster than they could follow, something shot out of the swirling water. A rainbow prism was knocking Monochromon off his feet, throwing him back into the trees, before anyone saw it.

"Who is that?" Ken asked, awed by the digimon. It was a giant seahorse with a metal face and tail and a royal purple body. "And whose side is he on?"

"Seahomon?" Izzy said, unsure. "I have no data about him, though."

"Dragon Noise!" shouted the digimon that had emerged from the water.

Monochromon howled in pain, assaulted by a sound wave. "I surrender," he whimpered before turning and running away.

With the immediate threat running off with his tail between his legs, the Digidestined turned their attention to Seahomon.

"Who are you?" Cody piped up, wiping tears from his face?"

"Don't you recognize me?" asked the seahorse. "Maybe I should make it a little clearer." Light surrounded the digimon as he de-digivolved. "It's me, Armadillomon."

"I don't believe it," TK said, watching Cody and his digimon partner run into each other's arms. "How is that possible?"

"I thought he couldn't come back after the egg broke," Davis agreed.

"I don't know," Armadillomon admitted, "but I woke up as Seahomon and had this with me." He pulled a pink device from inside his shell.

"Kari's D-3," Ken said.

"That's why she wanted Cody to have it," Blackwormmon added.

Cody stood up. "I feel like I've been dreaming, too; some long, horrible nightmare where I had no control over myself."

"Well, it's good to have you back," Sora said, messing his hair.

"Thanks."

Izzy frowned. "I still don't get how it happened."

"Seahomon would be Armadillomon's form if he were to use the Digiegg of Light," Ken said. "I researched it when I was…the Kaiser."

"But we don't have the Digiegg of Light," Tai replied, ignoring Ken's comment, and giving TK a warning glance to do the same.

"Something happened when she gave me the D-3," Blackwormmon offered. "Pink light went from her hand into the device."

"Hmm," Izzy pondered, "I guess that because Kari is the bearer of Light, she can pass on its attributes, even without the actual digiegg to release its power. That's_ intense_."

"Do you think her D-3 can hatch our eggs?" Davis asked.

"It's worth a try," Tai answered, hopeful.

They gathered the eggs together and Tai held the D-3 out facing the pile. "Is there a certain way to do it?" he asked when nothing happened.

"She specifically said Cody," Blackwormmon said. "I think that it was meant to bring Armadillomon back."

"At least we have someone to protect us now," Joe said. "I don't much feel like experiencing that again."

"You're telling me," Sora agreed.

"Blackwormmon, lead the way," said Tai.

"What?"

"Lead the way. You're the only one who knows where Kaiser is keeping Kari and Matt."

"Do you want to just walk into a trap? He's been prepared for if you found out where he was, and know that I'm here he's probably going to double the defense."

"It doesn't matter. We're going."

Blackwormmon sighed. "Alright, to the base then."

Ken blanched. "Where is he?"

"At the base."

"My base?" he questioned.

"Well of course, he's not going to find a new location until he's ready to rebuild his empire."

Tai began shouting all of the obscenities that were in his vocabulary. "How could we be so stupid to believe that he would be gone just because he said so?"

"It doesn't matter, let's get moving. We have no idea what he's doing to Kari or Matt." TK pursed his lips, feeling guilty. He knew it was a bad idea to let Matt go with them.

* * *

"Oh my God! Matt! Open this door!"

"No funny business," Vegimon warned.

Matt was more than surprised when Kari rushed through the door. He never thought Kaiser would let her anywhere near him. And yet, here she was. He pulled himself onto his feet and moved as much as the chain around his ankle would allow, bracing himself when Kari threw herself into his arms, hugging him.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, voice thick with emotion.

"I've been better," he admitted, "but I'm alright."

"This is all my fault," she sobbed, sinking down to the ground with him. "Are Joe and Izzy here too?"

"Not as far as I know, I think they got sent back to the group."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him again. "Oh Matt, I'm so sorry."

"This isn't your fault," he told her, looking back at her while she stared so intensely into his eyes. He put his arms around her again, trying to comfort her.

"Yes, it is," she argued, putting her hand against his cheek.

Matt began to feel a sort of tension building that he didn't quite understand. "Kari—."

No other words were allowed to escape. Kari had pressed her lips against his, in a timid way that he thought she might kiss.

_When had he considered how she might kiss? _Well, he was a guy, he told himself, and that sort of things goes through a guy's head.

Kari pulled away, looking at him. Looking for what his reaction was going to be. Matt considered stepping back, she was scared, she was vulnerable, she was kissing him again.

The second kiss was deeper, rougher. Kari pulled him closer. Matt's hands moved up Kari's back to cup her cheeks without him telling them to do so. He was lost in the intensity, nothing else existed right then.

Kari placed her palm against his chest, prompting him to lay back. She climbed onto of him, kissing him passionately. Her lips felt like fire against his skin. Moving slowly down his jawbone, Kari began kissing his neck.

"_You're pathetic."_

"What?" Matt whispered, nearly out of breath.

"You're pathetic," she repeated, bringing her body up, still straddling him.

"I…I don't understand."

"Look at you. You're willing to betray your own brother for some happy feeling in your pants."

"What? No. It's not like that at all—."

"Isn't it? You and I both know that TK is still in love with me, and yet…look at where we are."

"Why are you doing this?" Matt demanded, sitting up and forcing Kari off of him.

"Because you let me," she replied laughing a little.

"I'd never betray TK," Matt argued, embarrassed and ashamed.

"Of course not," Kari answered, standing and turning away from him. She paused as the Vegimon opened the door for her. "I like you Matt; you and I aren't so different." She smiled sweetly and let the door slam behind her. "See you around," she called over her shoulder.

Matt, smacked his hands against his face, rubbing his cheeks violently. "I didn't betray TK," he defended, though only to himself. "I would never."

Guilt overwhelmed him and for the first time since being put in the dungeon, Matt felt scared.

"_You and I aren't so different."_

What the hell did that mean?

… … … … … … … … …

For all of us Yakari fans, there's your moment. I'm going to finish this fic before the end of February, damn it. Then it's off to work more on Innocence Lost and writing out what I want to do with Adeliea. Get excited!


	11. Consequences

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter 11: Consequences**

* * *

Kari stood leaning against the wall of the corridor, fingers pressing into her temples to dull the pain of a migraine. Inside her mind she was screaming, sobbing, pleading, but nothing reached to her exterior except pressure on her forehead. She felt sick for what had happened with Matt; disgusted with herself and the things she'd done. It was as though she was watching someone else moving her body, making her say and do things she never wanted to.

The protests, though shouted at the top of her lungs, went unacknowledged. Her goodness, her light, her very essence was being controlled completely by someone else.

She was trapped within her own body.

1234

"I still can't believe we didn't think to check the base again," Ken grumbled. "I should have known he was there."

TK snorted. "Yeah, no kidding."

Blackwormmon rolled his eyes. He didn't understand humans. They were all so complicated.

"TK, shut up," Yolei offered, seeing Ken's cast down face. "I didn't hear any bright ideas from you, either."

The group fell into silence; everyone ate a small breakfast of berries they had gathered the night before. Joe put Matt and his eggs in his medicine bag, carefully wrapping each in gauze and surrounding them with all the cotton balls he had. Tai and Ken were taking turns carrying Gatomon's egg along with their own.

Impatient, Tai stood, leaving half of his meager portions uneaten. "Let's go."

They walked for an hour with few words exchanged. The fact that they were probably walking right into a trap was a sobering thought, but the chance to get Kari and Matt back pushed them forward nonetheless.

It seemed to take forever until the base was in sight. Blackwormmon looked at their anxious faces and the precious cargo they carried with them. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"We can't back down now," Ken said. "Kari is waiting for us to save her." _I have to get rid of Kaiser once and for all, so that Kari and I can find peace._

"Very well." Blackwormmon led them to the only entrance on the ground floor. No one was guarding the archway, and no one could be seen down the hall. He was certain that Kaiser would be ready for them, but the Digidestined seemed more than willing to walk into his hands if it meant the chance to save their friends.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? It looks to me like a bunch of intruders!" Kaiser strode confidently into the middle of the corridor, stopping the group from going any further. "I had a feeling you would betray me, Blackwormmon," he growled, terrifying the little worm and leaving him speechless.

"Where is she?" Ken demanded.

"Oh Ken. Is that anyway to greet an old friend? I thought we were closer than that."

"Where is she?" he repeated, annunciating every word.

"Do you really think I'd let you see her? Are you really that dense now that you don't have me in your head?"

Tai could sense Ken getting more and more furious with each passing second. "You're outnumbered, Kaiser. Just hand my sister and Matt over or we'll make you by force."

"You started out stupid," Kaiser observed. "As if I would be outnumbered at my own base." He snapped his fingers and a mob of Vegiemon appeared behind him. "You won't win," he warned, "and if you bother resisting those precious eggs of yours are going to be served scrambled to my digimon."

None of the Digidestined knew what to do. One or two of them might be able to get by and maybe find Kari, but they had no idea where Matt was or what condition he was in. Then they would have to find the rest. Not to mention the thought of losing their digimon completely.

No one moved.

Kaiser took the defeated look on Tai's face as compliance. "Take them to the dungeon," he ordered, waving his hand at them as he turned and walked around the corner.

Dragging the Digidestined through the corridors, the Vegiemon deposited them in the same cell as Matt. There was no immediate greeting however, as everyone was distracted by being chained to the wall, watching their digimons' eggs being tossed into a corner none of them could reach, while their digivices were tossed into the opposite corner.

Armadillomon was the most tied up; a chain wrapped around his belly, connecting him to the wall, his hands and feet were bound together, forcing him to stay in a very uncomfortable position. The rest, like Matt, only had an ankle chain.

Blackwormmon was left unchained; Kaiser knew he would not try to free them out of fear of the consequences.

Matt, for his part, barely even looked up while his friends were being forced into the same position he was in. He was…distracted. Kari's words haunted him; did he really betray TK? His rationale had shifted from blaming his hormones to trying to convince himself that she took advantage of him, and was currently musing that he couldn't betray TK because Ken was her boyfriend.

None of it made him feel any better.

"Matt!"

Matt shot his head up. He gulped. "TK."

"Matt, I was so worried! Are you okay?"

"I guess so," he responded, trying to sound normal. "I was expecting you to come rescue me, though, not join me." Humor, humor was good.

"Why were we stupid enough to just walk into his hands…err, dungeon?" Joe panicked, dropping his face into his hands. "I can't deal with this again."

"A plan would have been a good idea," Sora agreed.

"Have you seen Kari?" Ken asked.

"…Yeah." Matt whispered.

"Yeah?!" Ken mimicked.

Tai looked over suspiciously. "Why the hesitation? Is she okay?"

Matt swallowed thickly. "Physically, yes, but I'm sure Kaiser has done something to her again."

He didn't add anything about their actual encounter.

"How?" Ken shouted, "How could he have already figured something out?"

Izzy shuffled around, pulling his backpack in front of him. "Maybe I can find something on my laptop."

Everyone held their breath as Izzy booted up his computer. "Can you get on his network?" Ken asked.

"Yes, but I might need your help with some of the passwords."

Ken nodded, solemnly. _Kaiser was just a manifestation of my mind after all._

"I need one for the main network."

Ken scrunched his face, thinking. "Try Jessica Alba," he finally spoke.

"Jessica Alba?" Izzy questioned.

"Don't ask, just try it."

Izzy shook his head and began typing. "Well I'll be damned. I guess we can infer Ken's celebrity crush no problem."

Five minutes passed in complete silence.

"God. Even for an evil genius, that's pretty good."

"What?" Tai asked for everyone.

"Well, obviously the problem with the spore and the liquid darkness was that there wasn't a strong enough base for the darkness to develop so it just fed off Kari. It seems as though he's invented a chip similar to the spore, and a mixture of ingredients that get injected into the chip." He paused to scan more of the information. "Basically the mixture gathers all of the goodness, the light, within Kari and compresses it so it's easy to trap. Kari's goodness in essence is unreachable, making her completely evil."

Trying not to think about what that meant, Ken asked "what about the problem with it feeding off of her? Is that an issue?"

"Looks like no; the darkness has the chip to feed off of. Kari is just a vessel for it, it's not connected to her in the same way the spore was. And if the energy begins to deplete, Kaiser can inject more of the liquid."

Blackwormmon let out a sob. "How could he do that? She's such a good person! How can he want her when she is completely devoid of the light he so desired?"

Izzy shut his laptop. "I don't really know what to do from here. We're trapped, Kari is evil again, and there isn't anyone who can help us escape."

The cell fell quiet until Yolei grumbled in discomfort. The buttons on the back pockets of her jeans did not mold well with a concrete floor. "Here," Davis said, taking off his hooded jacket and tossing it to her. "I'll never understand girl pants. So impractical."

Sora couldn't help but grin. "At least some good came from this."

"What good could have possibly come from this?" Tai demanded from her right.

"It brought some of us closer together," she smiled, pointing from Davis to Yolei. She looked at him and extended her arm out towards him. "I do have the crest of love," she added as Tai gave her hand a squeeze, watching him smile despite himself.

* * *

It was nearly a full day before a digimon came to bring the prisoners any food. A Vegiemon hopped in and set down a plate of stale bread, butter, and a few water bottles. It was disgusting, but everyone was starving enough to take a piece of the bread.

"Which one of you is TK?" the Vegiemon asked.

TK blanched. "Why?"

"Master wants a word with him. A proposal, if you will."

"I'm not interested," TK answered, crossing his arms.

"It wasn't a request."

Everyone shouted their protests as TK was unchained and pulled from the cell. He grabbed onto the bars, while the Vegiemon pulled from his waist, until the strain was too painful. Looking back Vegiemon sneered. "Foolish humans."

TK soon found himself thrown at the feet of the Kaiser. His eyes scanned up the figure as he stood, glaring defiantly. "Whatever it is, I'm not interested."

"How can you say that when I haven't said anything yet?"

"I don't know, maybe because you're a monster."

"You're brave, standing up to me. But I wonder if that's the smart thing to do."

TK couldn't help but look interested. "What do you mean?"

"I have a proposition for you. I want you to kill Ken."

"What?! No way!"

"If you do then I will allow the rest of your friends to go home. Don't you want to save your brother?"

TK found it difficult to respond. "What about… what about Kari?" He wasn't actually considering it, was he?

Kaiser smiled. _He's mine._ "I will allow you to stay here with her. We'll…share her. You'll be able to make sure she's safe and happy. You do want her to be safe and happy don't you?"

"I can't kill Ken," TK finally managed.

"Sure you can. After everything he's done to you. He kidnapped Kari, put her through hell, made me real, and _took her from you._"

TK's face dropped. He had nothing to say.

"So I assume we are in agreement?" Kaiser asked, offering TK a knife.

* * *

"TK! What happened?"

TK ignored Davis as he reentered the cell, without the "assistance" of the Vegiemon.

Instead, he walked over to Ken, pulled him to his feet by the collar, and punched the blue haired teen in the jaw.

Ken faltered; the force of the punch accompanied by TK's shocking behavior sent him stumbling backwards into the wall.

Yolei gasped. "TK what are you doing?"

Ken stared up at TK, pressing on the left side of his jaw, wincing. "What did he tell you?"

Drawing the knife, TK used the weight of his body to pin Ken against the wall. The knife found a home along Ken's throat. "I have to," he whispered. "For everyone. For Kari."

The other destined tried in vain to get closer to Ken. No one was able to get close enough to pull TK away.

"TK, don't do this," Matt pleaded, "you _can't_ do this."

"I can do it, Matt. If I do then everyone gets to go home, and I get to stay with Kari…"

_Kari._

TK's eyes widened in horror. What was he doing? How could he be ready to have Ken's blood on his hands?

Ken, who Kari loved.

Yes, despite how TK felt, Kari did love him. TK felt sick thinking of what losing Ken would do to Kari. He stepped back, tripping over his own feet and falling on his ass. He raised his hands, letting the knife fall to the ground. He just stared at them.

"Oh God," he finally spat out. "Oh God, what was I thinking?" TK buried his face in his hands sobbing. "What _am_ I?"

"TK," Ken said, not knowing how to continue.

"I believed him. I'm that much of an idiot! I thought that I could save everyone and be able to stay with Kari, to save Kari!"

"TK,"

"And I didn't care if that meant you had to be the bargaining chip. I felt it was all justified because of how much I _hate _you."

Matt sank down to the ground. "TK, I'm so sorry," he muttered quietly enough that no one heard.

"I hated you. Right up until I had that knife against your throat, I hated you. I had too. You took her from me…if you hadn't taken her, if I had protected her from you…"

Ken stood silent, remembering the day he kidnapped Kari. Kaiser had wanted her to fall to her death. That day had been the beginning of his salvation. "You couldn't possibly know how sorry I am for what I did to Kari; to everyone. But I won't, I can't be sorry that she came into my life."

He didn't know if TK heard him or not. TK stared blankly at the wall, his body visibly shaking. "I just want to make her happy. And as much as I hate to admit it, you make her happy. I couldn't take that away from her."

Ken nodded, understanding. He extended his hand out to TK who, after a long delay, grasped it and stood. "She's everything to me," Ken said.

"I know."

* * *

"Have you heard what's happened?"

"No, what?"

"Your friends walked into the base, on their own accord, and demanded I give you back."

"And?"

"I threw them in the dungeon, naturally."

"…What are you going to do to them?"

Kaiser shrugged, indifferent. "I'm really not too concerned." He stared at her, looking for a reaction.

"I'm sure you'll think of something good," Kari replied.

"What about Tai?"

"What about Tai?"

Kaiser smiled; his new plan had worked perfectly. Even with the spore Kari had still cared about her brother. Now she couldn't care less. "You're perfect," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist.

They shared a kiss. "Shall we…" Kaiser began.

Kari interrupted, laughing. "What? Continue this in your bedroom?" Kaiser half nodded. "I'm sorry, _Babe_, but just because I'm evil does not mean I'm easy."

* * *

"Uh guys, you should probably look at this."

"What is it, Joe?"

"Gatomon's egg, it's turning black."

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One chapter left…do you want it? Well, all you have to do is review!


	12. The Fractured Heart

**Revenge of the Kaiser**

**Chapter 12: The fractured Heart**

* * *

The sun had barely risen when she awoke from an easy night's sleep. No thoughts of what would happen to the Digidestined kept her awake tossing and turning and worrying.

But still, she wanted to see them, wanted them to see her. She wanted to see their faces when she walked up to them and they knew, in no uncertain terms, _they failed to save her._

Kari showered and dressed quickly, wanting to go down to the dungeon before Kaiser was awake. She hummed on her way down, tapping her fingers against the wall as she walked.

They were in worse condition then she would have pictured; dirty broken shells of people sat curled into themselves, waiting for anything to take their minds off this imprisonment. She was surprised that most of them were even awake.

"Wow, look at you," Kari offered, catching the attention of the dazing teens and stirring the sleeping ones.

"Kari," Tai whispered, shakily getting to his feet. He was afraid, unsure of how she would act. But he was happy knowing that she was, in the simplest terms, okay.

Blackwormmon scurried to the door where Kari stood. "Let them out," he pleaded, "he'll listen if you tell him to send him home. They're no threat here anymore."

Kari kneeled down and reached her hand through the bars, patting Blackwormmon on the head. "I can't," she answered simply, "Kaiser wants his revenge."

"Kari," Ken said, but she paid no attention to him.

_Look at him_ a voice pleaded from the back of her mind._ Please, let me see him!_

Kari chuckled aloud at the miniscule pleas, more determined than before to ignore the blue haired teen.

"Don't worry," she said, patting Blackwormmon again, "nothing is going to happen to you. I'll make sure Kaiser doesn't take his anger out on you."

"Why me?"

"Because you were willing to help me," she answered simply. "But thinking about it, I might have him keep Matt around, he's fun to play with. Aren't you, Matt?"

Matt looked away, refusing to acknowledge her taunts. "What?" Kari asked, standing and leaning her arms against the bars, "didn't you tell them? Didn't you tell TK what an honorable brother you are?"

TK frowned, confused. He stepped forward, able to move freely because the chains were never reattached. He put his hand on Kari's. "Snap out of it," he whispered, staring into her eyes, looking for the goodness in her.

Kari smirked, pulling away from his touch. "I'm afraid it's no longer that simple. Besides, I like this feeling." _Stop it._

"Kari," Ken tried again.

"I have better things to do than waste my time entertaining you," she said harshly, speaking mainly to TK, "I'll see you around."

"Kari!" Ken shouted.

_Turn around! Look at him! Listen to me damn it!_

Kari continued walking without pausing to look back.

Tai dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. "I can't believe it. I can't believe what he's done to her."

TK collapsed against the bars. "Matt, what was Kari talking about?"

Matt paled at the question. He was hoping beyond hope that he wasn't going to be asked to elaborate. How could he explain or justify what happened? "I told you, she came here. She pretended to be her old self, tricked me."

"There's more," TK pressed, "I can see it in your eyes."

Matt sighed, pulling his legs closer to himself. "We…kissed."

Both Ken and TK were about to question him, but Tai beat them to it. "What did you say?" he growled.

"I didn't mean for it to happen! She hugged me and said she was sorry and she was scared. Then she kissed me, and, I don't know, I didn't think, I just reacted. And then next thing I know she's laughing at me and calling me pathetic."

"You _are_ pathetic," TK concurred. He looked over at Ken, whose eyes were dark and his fists clenched.

Matt nodded, feeling three sets of eyes glaring at him. He couldn't look at any of them.

* * *

_Stop walking! Turn around and set them free! LISTEN TO ME!_

Kari's body stopped moving, coming to a jerky halt. Her head ached intensely, enough to make her lean against the wall. "Don't bother," she spoke aloud, addressing the goodness locked within her, "they'll be dead soon and you'll lose any power you have over this body. It belongs to me now. Accept the darkness and give up."

Her body shivered, and she dropped to the ground. Grabbing her head in pain, Kari gasped aloud. "Stop fighting it!"

_No!_ the voice countered, growing stronger and louder._ This is _my _body! _The core of Kari's light fought the darkness surrounding it, gaining some control of her body.

Quickly, before the darkness could stop her, Kari tore the bandage off her ankle and began to dig at the cut it covered, tearing it open. "Stop that!" her voice commanded, panicking. But she kept going, covering her fingers in blood until she could grab the chip with her nails. Yanking it out, Kari winced in pain, but held it up triumphantly.

A shudder ran through her body. The darkness, without the chip as a base, ran amok within her, trying to find something to grasp onto.

Kari's skin felt hot, and her head blinded her with pain. She rose to her feet, using the wall to keep from collapsing, blood dripping out from her ankle as the injected darkness was forced from her body.

Staggering forward, Kari tried to get herself together. The pain was bringing tears to her eyes, making it even more difficult to focus. Her injured ankle refused to support any of her weight, at least not without making her suck in air sharply to keep for screaming.

There was a noise behind her, and Kari managed to half turn around to look. Turning her body away from the wall, combined with the shock of what she was seeing, or rather, the blurred image in front of her, caused her to fall to the ground, landing on her hip with a thud.

The darkness had not dissolved into the air as she would have expected (if her head would allow her to even consider it). Instead, it was gathering together to fit the form of a short brunette with red tinted eyes.

"Well, this is convenient," Kaiserin spoke, holding up her palms and watching as they solidified. "Sharing a body with you, your little voice nagging about everything I do, _God_ it's irritating. But now," Kaiserin smirked, seeing the horror etched into Kari's features, "now I don't need you."

She moved quickly, lunging forward and slapping Kari across the face with the back of her hand. The force knocked Kari sideways, causing her head to bang against the ground. Kaiserin grabbed onto the front of Kari's shirt and pulled the battered girl to her feet. Her fingers wrapped around Kari's throat, blocking any air from entering her lungs.

Kari gasped, trying to inhale, trying to gather enough focus to make her arms move and force the Kaiserin's hands away.

But things were already foggy and the pain in her head demanded more attention than the cry for air could match. Slowly, as if the world had begun to run in slow motion, the severity of the pain waned and everything went black.

Kaiserin loosened her grip as soon as Kari was unconscious. She needed to keep Kari alive, for now, as a precaution. She let Kari fall forward into her, balancing her weight evenly in her arms and dragged Kari to the first room she could find.

Backing into the room, Kaiserin let Kari fall from her arms into a heap on the floor. She didn't know what the room was for, if anything, or if she would remember exactly which room she had dumped Kari in.

* * *

He hadn't woken as early as usual, and thus he decided to wait until later to shower. He wanted to see his prize, to have her look him in the eyes without fear or contempt. He got ready quickly, exiting his room a few minutes later, heading to her room almost at a jog.

She was standing at the window, staring out from between the bars. She glanced back when the door entered, smiling at Kaiser before turning to look out the window again.

"You're up," Kaiser observed.

"Mmhmm," Kaiserin answered absently. She turned away and walked to Kaiser, lifting her arms up and around his neck when she reached him. "I've been thinking,"

"Oh?"

"About what we should do about our captives."

"And what did you decide?"

A smile spread across Kaiserin's face. "We should kill them. One at a time, make the others watch. They won't know who will be next, or when, or how they'll die."

"All of them?"

"Naturally."

"Even Tai?"

"Of course."

Kaiser frowned. He knew that his chip was powerful, but this seemed to be more evil than Kari would be capable of. He loved the idea that she cared nothing for them, but her suggesting that they be murdered, it seemed…too good to be true. Something wasn't right. He stared suspiciously at her, looking for any sign that it was a trick.

"What?" Kaiserin asked, pushing against him with enough force to make his feet shuffle backwards until he could feel the mattress against the back of his thighs. She pushed him down onto the bed in one swift motion.

The act of pushing him down was in itself very arousing, but when she climbed on top of him, straddling him just below his hips, Kaiser was consumed by his desire for her. Her grabbed her forearms and pulled her forward, capturing her bottom lip between his teeth.

They kissed deeply, heavily, trying to convey a complicated message with only their lips. Kaiser slid his hand down Kaiserin's leg, feeling her smooth skin all the way down to her ankle…

Kaiser's eyes shot open. He grabbed onto Kaiserin's arms and threw her off of him.

"What the hell—?"

"Shut up," he interrupted, grabbing her other leg and studying that ankle, too. There was nothing, no bandage, no cut, no scar.

She was half off the bed already, so she shook her ankle free and found her way back onto her feet.

"Where is it?" he growled.

"Where's what?" she questioned back, smiling sweetly.

"The chip," he snarled, taking a step back to look over her with critical eyes.

"Oh that silly little thing? You don't have to worry about that, _promise_." She took a step toward him but he backed away again.

"You're not her," he realized after a moment, "you're not Kari."

Kaiserin laughed at him, mocking his shock and anger. "Oh Kaiser, for someone so smart, you can be quite stupid. Did you honestly think that Kari wouldn't be able to expel the darkness from her body? Ken did it, and he had a lot less power than she does."

"Where is she?" he demanded, furious.

Kaiserin shrugged. "Does it matter? Isn't this what you wanted? I'm just like her only I'm yours willingly. Isn't it better this way? Don't you realize that I'm the only way that this is real? Kari will never love you no matter what you do to her. Deep down she'll always despise you. Her heart will always belong to Ken—!"

Kaiser struck Kaiserin across the face hard enough to knock her to the ground. "Where is she!?"

She spat blood out onto the floor. "She'll be dead soon, I'd imagine. It took more energy then she could afford to use to get me out of her body. Forget her."

"You'll regret this," Kaiser promised, grabbing hold of her arm and forcing her to her feet. He half-dragged Kaiserin down a winding path of hallways, ignoring her taunts and protests.

Kaiserin gasped as she realized where he was taking her. "You can't leave me down here," she screamed, trying to pr his fingers off of her.

"You'll have company," Kaiser mocked, signaling a guard to open the cell where the Digidestined were held. "Try to play nice," he added after throwing her in on her ass.

"Wait!" she demanded, scrambling to her feet and grabbing at him through the cell. "You can't do this!"

Kaiser glared at her and stepped out of her range. He turned without another word and left her standing in the cell, arm outstretched, trying to grab onto something that would free her.

"Kari?" Tai spoke nervously, "what's going on?"

Kaiserin turned to face Tai, scrunching her face up in disgust. "Do not call me that." She sauntered over to him and sat down in front of him. "What's going on? You let your little sister get caught by the forces of evil, and now you've lost her forever." She smiled.

"Kari, stop," Sora pleaded, seeing the pain on Tai's face.

Kaiserin looked over her shoulder and saw Matt. She scooted over until she was right next to him, pressing her side against him. "I think I'm going to suggest that you stay alive the longest," she placed her hand on his knee, "I can only imagine the angst you'll have after watching T.K. die; especially since he's going to die _hating you_."

Her words struck Matt like physical blows. "Shut up! Just shut up!" he screamed, rising to his feet, fists clenched in anger. "I was stupid and I didn't think. I get it! I'm not going to sit there and let you make me feel worse than I already do. So shut the hell up!"

Kaiserin half shrugged, surprised and somewhat amused by his reaction. She got up and walked over to TK, who was leaning against the wall near Ken. Just one look in his eyes told her that she could break him easily.

"And here stands my brave, sweet TK. My knight in shining armor. You never will give up hope, will you? Ken kidnaps me and you nearly lose your life trying to get me back, and I repay you by Ken, the same guy who nearly killed us all. We'd be together, you and me, if Ken hadn't gotten in the way. We wouldn't be here now if it weren't for him. We'd be somewhere in our world, together, your arms would be wrapped around me…"

"That isn't Kari," Ken said as he rose to his feet beside her. "She's the equivalent to what Kaiser is." He stared her down harshly. "She's only a manifestation of dark energy kicked out of the host body."

"When you put it like that it doesn't sound good at all. I'm Kaiserin, an improved form of that little twit."

"Where is she?"

"Well, if Kaiser doesn't find her soon, she'll be pushing daisies on the other side of the light, if you catch my drift." She laughed, enjoying their pain immensely.

* * *

He was nearly out of breath from going from room to room across more than half the base. It was then that when he began rebuilding his empire there would only be the necessities. All of these empty rooms were a useless hassle.

He had found the bloody chip a few halls back, and there had been little spots of blood here and there. But he did not know which direction they were supposed to lead him.

Kaiser's hand fell upon the handle of the next door in the hall. Kaiser took in a deep breath of air before turning it open. Kaiser's eyes widened.

Kari lay on the floor in the middle of the room. Her hair covered a large portion of her face, which was paler than usual. Her breathing was shallow and her body shook with cold. The cut on her ankle had yet to stop bleeding and a small pool of blood had formed on the floor. Her body was too weak from forcing out the dark energy to close the wound.

He picked her up delicately and carried her to the Control Room. After cleaning and wrapping her ankle, he turned away from her. Fury could be read on his features; someone was going to pay for this.

He quickly typed a command in his computer before calmly walking back to the dungeon with quick, deliberate steps.

* * *

When he reached the dungeon entrance Meramon was standing at attention. "You summoned me, Master?"

Kaiser nodded, walking by the fire digimon and signaling for him to follow. Meramon followed until Kaiser stopped again.

He stood in front of the cell where the Digidestined were being kept. Kaiserin had gotten sick of them and was sitting by their D-3's, trying to find some amusement. She dropped Yolei's D-3 on the floor and jumped to her feet when she saw Kaiser on the other side of the bars.

The smile on her face quickly faded as the cell opened and Meramon walked through. "Fireball," his voice sizzled as he gathered fire between his palms and shot it out at Kaiserin.

She screamed as the flames hit her. Kaiser watched, satisfied, as her body began to break up into data. "Kaiser…" she whispered as her body fell apart, "she'll never love you…"

Davis stared in horror. "How could you do that?" he demanded, eyeing Kaiser with a fearful awe. "You're a monster!"

Meramon stepped out of the cell and bowed to the Kaiser. "That is all," Kaiser spoke, dismissing him. His eyes turned on Davis.

All the Digidestined had stood before the last bits of Kaiserin were falling to the ground. Kaiser stepped inside, wanting to take some of his rage out on them.

Suddenly, Tai lunged at him and punched him square in the jaw. Kaiser gasped, seeing the ankle chain snapped in half, giving Tai the ability to move freely.

"How…" he began, before Davis took a shot at him.

Ken ducked by Kaiser and ran out of the cell. Kaiser went to follow after him but Yolei's foot somehow managed to get tangled around his ankle and they both went down. "We'll keep him busy," she shouted after Ken.

Ken saw that Blackwormmon was trailing right behind him. They ran to Kari's room, only to find it empty. Ken pounded on the door, inhaled deeply, and began running to the Control Room.

"Kari!" he breathed, seeing her lying on the table. He ran to her and touched her forehead with his hand. "Kari, please wake up." He took her hand into his and gave a gentle squeeze.

She stirred, slowly at first, but the sound of his voice seemed to lead her back to consciousness. "Ken?" she whispered, blinking several times.

"Oh God, Kari, I'm glad you're alright."

"Where is he?"

Ken's eyes betrayed him. She saw the fear in his eyes and knew that Kaiser was with the others. She tried to stand, but her body was too weak to support her. "Don't move," Ken chastised, wrapping his arm around her waist as she gracelessly slipped off the table.

"I have to go, or he'll kill them."

There were a series of yells and groans of pain echoing down the corridor. Kaiser came running into the control room, the Digidestined following close behind. TK jumped on his back, but Kaiser easily threw the blonde off.

"They're free," Kari said, watching as one after another her friends tried to take Kaiser down. Even Sora and Yolei were offering their fists and feet to try and slow him.

"Turns out the Armadillomon can eat through just about anything. He snapped our chains."

Kari looked down at Ken's ankle, making herself dizzy as she did so. A metal ring was clasped around his pant leg. Looking around she saw that they all sported the same accessory.

Joe came stumbling into the room, carrying in both his hands his bag full to the brim with the eggs and digivices the others had not thought to get.

Ken and Kaiser locked eyes. "Get away from her," Kaiser growled, elbowing Tai in the face without looking at him, "she's mine."

Ken put himself in front of Kari. She grabbed onto the back of his shirt, partly for support, partly to keep him from leaving to confront Kaiser.

Ken looked around him. The rest of the Digidestined were losing their strength and a group of Vegiemon entered behind Joe and began to tie down the ones that happened to be on the floor. One of them held a squirming Armadillomon above his head. Joe was looking side to side, his limbs frozen in fear.

Soon only Ken was free to face Kaiser. He stepped forward, forcing Kari to drop her hands. She slid to the ground without his support. "This ends now," he said with a clear, determined voice.

"That it does," Kaiser agreed, grinning.

Ken went at Kaiser with his fist raised. His movements were too slow, however; his body was weakened by hunger and exhaustion. Only his desire to save Kari and everyone else drove him to land a solid punch in Kaiser's stomach.

It didn't take long for Kaiser to knock Ken face first to the ground. Kaiser shook his head, disappointed. "You would think our final face off would be more dramatic," he said, standing over Ken. He grabbed a handful of Ken's hair and yanked his head up. He pulled out a knife from his side pocket and held it against Ken's throat.

"No!" Kari screamed. Tears began to build up in her eyes. "Please," she whispered, defeated, "I'll do anything."

"I know you will," Kaiser sneered, keeping the knife pressed against Ken's throat. "I'm just making sure no one tries to interfere."

Kari's eyes widened. "No!" she screamed again, trying to get on her feet, trying to run to Ken. She didn't make it more than a few steps before crashing back down again.

With his back turned to him, Kaiser did not see Joe sink down in an attempt to keep his now shaking bag in his hands. A beam of light shot out of it. Everyone stayed silent as YukimiBotamon fell to the ground. The light followed the round digimon as she bounced and landed as Nyaromon and then again to become Salamon. Salamon was Gatomon seconds later.

Kaiser saw shock pass over Kari and he paused for a second. A rush of excruciating pain erupted from his back. The knife fell and Kaiser backed away. Both he and Ken turned to see what had happened.

Angewomon hovered in the air; her bow was still raised in her hands.

Kaiser understood. She had hit him with her Celestial Arrow.

Holy power.

He coughed and sputtered for a moment. He could feel his body being deleted. Ken had kicked his way back onto his feet and run to Kari.

As long as there was some life in him he would not allow Ken near her. Kaiser ran at them, his back hunched because of the pain. He fell just short of reaching the two of them. Ken had helped her to her feet already.

He reached his arm out and touched the top of her shoe, trying to grab onto her. Kari pulled her foot away.

"I can't lose," he shouted, even as his body was breaking off into data. "I won't—!" The voice cut off as Kaiser burst into data.

"Is it over?" Joe asked.

"Yes," Ken answered.

The Vegiemon looked around at each other and simultaneously started running away.

Ken wrapped his arms around Kari. "Let's go home."

She nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. It was over. It was finally over.

Izzy dusted himself off. He walked over to the main wall and began typing.

"Izzy, what are you doing?" Sora asked, speaking for everyone.

"Opening the portal so we can go home. Obviously."

"But what about our digimon," Cody interjected, sobering the group's mood.

"Let me handle that," Angewomon offered. She flew over the eggs and sprinkled sparkling light on them before de-digivolving to Gatomon.

The group exhaled together as the eggs began hatching and their digimon began play fighting with each other to get out of the bag and bounced to their human partners.

"Now you can go home," Blackwormmon said.

"What about you?" Kari asked, "what are you going to do?"

"Fix things that Kaiser has interfered with, to start. And then…I suppose I don't know yet. I'll find somewhere I belong, I'm sure."

"Oh, I just remembered." Ken dug his hand into his pocket. "I think this is yours."

"My necklace," Kari said, smiling. "Thank you." She lifted herself up as well as she could and kissed Ken's lips.

Blackwormmon made a face. He really didn't understand humans.

… … … … … … … … … …

Well, that's it. I know, I should have finished a year ago. I said I would finish sooner, but for the past 6 months now I've been having a problem with my stomach where I can't eat without it hurting afterward and having sharpish pains in my general tummy area. Daily. I've gotten a number of tests done, and the douche of a doctor I see decided, "hey it's not cancer, so we don't really _need_ to know what it is" and has had me try different medications which have yet to make the pain stop. It's had a negative effect on my energy levels and I always seemed to have a paper or test to worry about (and now working all day).

But here it is, and I hope you like it. (review!) Also, funny story. I have an idea for a third segment of this, set in the frontier world. I always wanted to do a 02/04 crossover. But I won't get ahead of myself.

Up next on the agenda:

Too Young Chapter 2 (started)

Innocence Lost Chapter 3 –I've been watching the original subbed (which I'm having trouble finding) to refresh my memory/get the story. I've got some ideas for the demon lords and the original 5 chosen that get 15 seconds referenced to them.

Oh yeah…REVIEW!! (please!!)


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